Past Poster Contest Winners
2024
Jessica Hall ’26, new media design major
A futurist 3D-modeled poster featuring a whimsical, futuristic workshop was selected as the winning entry in this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival poster contest.
Visitors can receive a free copy of the poster during the festival on April 27, while supplies last.
Jessica Hall, a second-year new media design major from Kennett Square, Pa., won $500 in Tiger Bucks as the winning artist. Nearly 50 entries were submitted, with about 10,000 votes cast. Three finalists were chosen, with the winning poster selected by RIT President David Munson.
“I had never even touched 3D software before last semester but, once I started, I really loved it,” she said. “I wanted to do something that was like realism, but whimsical with a sci-fi futuristic vibe that RIT has, and I wanted it to look like a hologram.”
Hall said her design, which also gives a nod to a wide variety of different fields of studies and student activities, took her a month to complete.
“I put a lot of time into this, and I’m really happy with how it turned out,” she said. “I used a compilation of things I had learned over the semester, and I wanted to play with something that looked realistic but, in reality, would be nonsensical with cameras, pencils, wires, computer microchips, a paper airplane—all types of things.”
In the poster, a computer display screen reads: “Now loading: The SHED.”
“I wanted to pay tribute to that [Student Hall for Exploration and Development] because it was completed this year,” she said.
Hall said she and a group of friends stared at a whiteboard to brainstorm, with ideas flowing from words and elaborate mind maps they came up with. She was inspired by Doctor Who. “They always have interesting lights and things.”
She said she thought she had a chance of winning, “but I also knew a lot of friends who submitted a lot of good entries,” she said. “It was really fun coming up with ideas.”
Hall is on the RIT Women’s Rowing team and serves as its recruitment chair. She also is the Honors Program delegate for the College of Art and Design and is a Performing Arts Scholar, taking piano lessons at RIT.
She attended the Imagine festival for the first time last year. “We were supposed to be out of town at a race, but it was canceled, so I got to go to Imagine. It was really cool and I wanted to see everything.”
Indeed, the festival, since its inception in 2008, is RIT’s largest annual event. Tens of thousands of people from the community are welcomed to campus that day to enjoy more than 350 exhibits of technology, art, design, robotics, performing arts, engineering, research, clubs, and more. The event is campus wide and is free and open to the public, with free parking on campus and at Monroe Community College, with free shuttle buses to and from RIT.
2023
Annelise Wall ’25, new media design major
The winning poster was created by Annelise Wall, a second-year new media design major from the Rochester suburb of Pittsford. It took her about a month to make the poster as a final class project last semester.
“It was a very large undertaking to make a 3D poster,” she said. It took about a month from start to finish. “I poured a lot of hours in it, and a lot of late-night hours in the lab. I’m very proud of it.”
The poster features the word “imagine” in an orange neon light, but much of her poster is purple.
“Since the RIT color is orange, I wanted to pick a color that contrasted with orange,” she said.
Wall said the inspiration for her poster came from industrial glass pipes as well as the insides of a PC.
“In the glass pipes I wanted to represent other disciplines like a microphone, molecules, and ones and zeros,” she said. “And I had to have an artist’s palette to represent myself, too.”
An animated version of her poster has the items traveling as if on a conveyor belt (see below).
Wall will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks, which she said may go toward a new computer. The first 5,000 visitors to the festival will also receive a free poster.
This year, 75 poster ideas intended to capture the spirit of the festival were submitted, and voting from the RIT community was held through Feb. 10. The top vote-getters were reviewed and the winning poster was selected by RIT President David Munson.
Wall said her class was very competitive about the contest, and she saw other submissions she really liked, including one showing a robotic tiger, and one with a Ferris wheel.
“This year’s submissions are some of the best we have ever received,” said Ann Ielapi, director of Imagine RIT and special events.
2022
Sarah Neff ’24, new media design major
An image of a 3D, futuristic, jack-in-the-box is the winning entry in this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival poster contest.
The artist, Sarah Neff, a second-year new media design major from Waterbury, Vt., wins $500 in Tiger Bucks. More than 50 entries were submitted.
Visitors can receive a free copy of her poster during the festival on April 23, while supplies last.
“My original idea was thinking outside the box, so I wanted to fill the box as much as possible,” she said. “I started thinking of random fun little things associated with technology and creativity like the robot, the mechanical arm, the helicopter, and the celebratory confetti.”
She said the design took her three or four weeks to complete.
Even though her friends told her they liked her design, Neff was surprised when she learned she won the poster contest because there were many impressive submissions.
“A classmate of mine made a poster of a 3D robot. It was insane,” Neff said. “I could never do that.”
Neff will have some family members coming to town to enjoy Imagine RIT with her. This year will be the first in-person Imagine RIT festival since 2019 due to the COVID pandemic.
“I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know what to expect,” she said.
2021
Luke Chen ’23, new media design major
An image showing a tiger emerging from an ocean of pandemic, climbing toward a ray of light, has been selected as this year’s poster for the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, to be held virtually beginning at 10 a.m. on May 1.
The poster was designed by Luke Chen, a second-year new media design major in the College of Art and Design, from Fuzhou, China.
More than 7,000 votes were cast for the more than 50 entries this year. A panel of RIT art and design faculty members weighed in on the top vote getters, and RIT President David Munson selected the winning poster from the five finalists.
Chen, who also made an animated version his poster, will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks.
“When I made my poster, I wanted it to represent that this Imagine RIT is going to be special because of the ongoing pandemic,” he said. “This is not only representing that we emerge from the pandemic, but also that even after this pandemic is over, the world is not going to be the same as before. So, as the COVID generation of students, we are crossing over from one world into another.”
Chen, who also entered the poster contest last year, made the winning poster for his new media 3D class last semester.
“My professor made it our final project,” he said. “Although I would probably still enter regardless, I am kind of glad that he did that because this 3D poster came out very successful – I mean, I won! If I did it on my own, I might not be using 3D.”
Chen said he was “pretty confident” in his poster this year, “but there were some other really amazing submissions besides mine.”
2020
Jacqueline Lando ’20, new media design major
The winning design in this year’s Imagine RIT poster contest was created by Jacqueline Lando, a fourth-year student majoring in new media design at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Her design, colorful images sprouting from the mind, was chosen from among 28 entries in the contest.
For her winning entry, Lando, a resident of Long Island, N.Y., will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks. The poster will be used to promote the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 25, 2020 on the Henrietta campus.
2019
Maggie Blaisdell ’21, graphic design major
The winning design in this year’s Imagine RIT poster contest was created by Maggie Blaisdell, a second-year student majoring in graphic design at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Her design, a colorful amalgam of tools being put together to create a tiger face - the symbol of RIT - was chosen from among 56 entries in the contest. “The hands symbolize collaboration, the items symbolize RIT student's various interests, and the tiger symbolizes RIT itself,” said Blaisdell in describing her entry.
Second place went to Gan Lin, a fourth-year new media design major from Ellenville, N.Y.
For her winning entry, Blaisdell, – a resident of South Fork, Pa., — will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks. The poster will be used to promote the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 27, 2019 on the Henrietta campus.
For second place, Lin will receive $250 in Tiger Bucks.
There were more than 5,000 votes cast in this year’s poster contest.
2018
Amanda Ho ’19, new media design major
Amanda Ho, new media design ’19, is this year’s winning artist in the annual Imagine RIT poster contest. “I was looking at a lot of futuristic art that showed far away versions of today's society,” says Ho. “I think of Imagine RIT as a place that is the central hub for new innovations and technology where people travel to and from different places.”
Amanda will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks as first prize for her winning design. Visitors can receive a free copy of this year’s poster during the festival on Saturday, April 28, 2018.
2017
Riley Yankowich ’18, new media design major
A design of two hands reaching for each other—one of them human, one built from bits of technical parts—is the winning entry from this year’s Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival poster contest.
Riley Yankowich, a third-year new media design student from Deerfield Beach, Fla., created the image and will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks as her prize. Five thousand 14-by-20-inch copies of her design will be printed and distributed to visitors for free outside The Wallace Center during the festival on May 6, 2017.
“It’s pretty cool my artwork will be displayed on campus,” Yankowich said. “I’m pretty excited.”
She entered the contest as a class project, never thinking her design would be selected.
“There was a lot of brainstorming in class,” she said. “I originally was going to do something like man versus machine, but the idea kept going back to hands and it formed into all the tools students use, with a human hand reaching out to them. And it shows humans always have a power over the tools that they are using.”
Yankowich had four weeks to complete the design, which included an all-nighter towards the deadline when she used Photoshop and touched up 3D-rendered icons on the lower hand in her design.
“I was not expecting to win,” she said. “I just wanted to make a cool poster.”
Nearly 50 entries were received for the contest.
Runner up was a design by Amy Pham, a new media design major from Sunnyvale, Calif., who designed an image of RIT President Bill Destler’s head unscrewed, allowing items such as a joystick, Rubik’s Cube, hockey puck, gears and a banjo to pop out.
Special Edition
the nine previous contest winners
This special poster was created to promote the upcoming tenth Imagine RIT festival, and was created before the 2017 poster design contest.
2016
Kelly Hurlburt ’17, new media design major
The winning design in this year’s Imagine RIT poster contest was created by Kelly Hurlburt, a third-year student majoring in new media design at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Her design, an intricate and colorful machine formulated inside the numerals “2016,” was chosen from among 75 entries in the contest.
For her winning entry, Hurlburt – a resident of Webster, N.Y. — will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks. The poster will be used to promote the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 7, 2016 on the Henrietta campus.
There were nearly 10,000 votes cast in this year’s poster contest.
2015
Meagan Daymont ’15, media arts and technology major
The winning design in this year’s Imagine RIT poster contest was created by Meagan Daymont, a fourth-year student majoring in media arts and technology at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Her design, a tiger profile in RIT colors, was chosen by RIT President Bill Destler from among 85 entries in the contest, after an initial voting period determined the top five posters. There were nearly 10,000 votes cast.
For her winning entry, Daymont—a resident of Lowville, N.Y.—will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks. The poster will be used to promote the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2 on the Henrietta campus.
Below are the entries in the 2015 Imagine RIT poster contest. Each submission was created by a current RIT student. President Bill Destler selects the winning entry from the posters that receive the most votes.
2014
Sophia Del Plato ’15, graphic design major
The winning design in this year’s Imagine RIT poster contest was created by Sophia Del Plato, a third-year graphic design student at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Her design, bold blue with graphics incorporating elements from computing, art and the solar system, was chosen from among 34 entries in the contest.
Taking second place was a poster created by Emily Onyan, a third-year illustration major from Rochester, N.Y., and Kenny Radzyminski, a fourth-year marketing major from Cleveland.
For her winning entry, Del Plato—a resident of Batavia, N.Y.—will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks. And 5,000 copies of the poster will be distributed for free to visitors at the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 3, 2014 on the Henrietta campus.
Onyan and Radzyminski will also receive Tiger Bucks.
Nearly 8,000 members of the RIT and Rochester communities voted in this year’s poster contest.
2013
Trinh D.H. Le, ’14, new media design and imaging major
Close to 5,000 members of the RIT and Rochester community voted to select this year’s Imagine RIT poster.
Congratulations to Trinh D.H. Le, ’14, new media design and imaging, for submitting her unique and stunning tiger design that emerged victorious among more than 60 entries. Trinh will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks, and 5,000 copies of the poster will be distributed for free to visitors at the festival on May 4, 2013.
We would also like to acknowledge the work of Teysia Parks, ’15, graphic design, and Katie Verrant, ’15, new media design, for their 2nd and 3rd place submissions. Teysia and Katie will also receive Tiger Bucks awards. Teysia’s “creative play” design will be printed and sent to some local teachers as part of our K-12 outreach.
Thank you to all who participated in this year’s contest. We received numerous comments about the outstanding quality and creativity of submissions.
2012
Tyler Somers ’14, graphic design major
For the fifth consecutive year, RIT students were challenged to create a poster design in conjunction with the Imagine RIT festival. The winning poster was created by Tyler Somers, a second-year graphic design student from Reisterstown, MD. More than 11,000 votes were cast during the competition. Members of the RIT community were invited to select their favorites from among the 69 submitted designs, all of which were showcased as part of an online gallery.
Each poster design entry is created by an RIT student. The five most popular posters are sent to RIT President Bill Destler, who selects the winner.
2011
John Lindsay ’11, graphic design major
For the fourth consecutive year, RIT students were challenged to create a poster design in conjunction with Imagine RIT. The winning poster, shown here, was created by John Lindsay, a fourth year graphic design major at RIT. Members of the community were invited to select their favorites from among the 20 submitted designs. More than 2,000 votes were cast during this year’s competition. The five most popular posters are sent to RIT President Bill Destler, who selects the winner.
2010
Thomas Sokolowski ’14, chemical engineering major
For the third consecutive year, RIT students were challenged to create a poster design in conjunction with Imagine RIT. The winning poster, shown here, was created by Thomas Sokolowski, a first-year chemical engineering student from Rochester. More than 5,000 votes were cast during the competition. Members of the RIT community were invited to select their favorites from among the 66 submitted designs, all of which were showcased as part of an online gallery. The most popular posters were sent to RIT President Bill Destler, who selected the winner.
2009
Alex Moser ’09, applied arts and science major
For the second consecutive year, students were challenged to create a poster design in conjunction with Imagine RIT. The winning entry was created by Alex Moser, a fourth-year applied arts and science major from Medfield, Mass.
"With all the new ideas and inspirations happening at RIT, I came up with this image of a girl holding a balloon, which represented her idea, allowing it to take her wherever it will take her," explains Moser. "This is the first opportunity I've had for my work to be widely recognized, and I think it's really great to have it included as part of the festival."
More than 4,000 members of the RIT community voted for their favorite design from among 15 poster entries submitted for the competition and later showcased as a part of an online gallery.
2008
Carly Schonberg ’08, illustration major
Carly Schonberg, an illustration major from New Rochelle, N.Y., was the winning artist of the very first Imagine RIT poster contest. RIT students, regardless of major, were invited to submit designs, leading to a total of 32 entries in 2008. Schonberg, who went on to pursue a career in children’s books illustration, conceptualized the fusion of right-brain and left-brain outcomes to highlight the festival’s themes of innovation and creativity.
“I took a bunch of techniques I usually work with, particularly collage, and had fun with them,” she explains. “I’m very happy to have this opportunity to show that I can do a different type of illustration and still have it recognized.”