UMSL students Ken Earley and Bafra Tawfiq each earned a $1,000 scholarship from Ad Club of Saint Louis, an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation. (Photo by Kristy Tucciarone)

While Ken Earley was thrilled to be on the receiving end of a $1,000 scholarship, the source of the money made the gift even more rewarding.

The scholarship was awarded by the Ad Club of Saint Louis, an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation.

“Winning this scholarship was great because our judges were well-respected professionals in the industry,” said Earley, a senior in the Pierre Laclede Honors College and a media studies major at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. “To me, it’s like a small stamp of approval from guys who’ve been at it for a while – that means a lot.”

Bafra Tawfiq, a senior media studies student at UMSL, was also awarded a $1,000 scholarship. The winners were recognized during an event on March 6.

In February, Earley was also part of a team that took home a Certificate of Excellence at the St. Louis ADDY Awards. The other winners included students Noely Seidel-Zimmer and Maria Perez Tapia Ruano. Additional individual Certificate of Excellence winners were Michael Plumb and Thomas Geraci.

The students received the honor in the category of television.

The American Advertising Federation touts the ADDY Awards as “the world’s largest and arguably toughest advertising competition.”

The awards recognize creative excellence in several advertising areas, including sales promotion, direct marking, radio, television and mixed media. The competition is held at three levels, local, regional and national.