The University of Houston-Victoria Marketing Department recently received three honors for outstanding design work in an international competition that attracted more than 6,000 entries.

Amberley Gutierrez

Amberley Gutierrez, a graphic designer, and Harry Bashaw, a former Internet technician in the Marketing Department, won a platinum award in the MarCom Awards 2012 competition for the 2010-2011 President’s Annual Report & Excellence Awards website, www.UHVAnnualReport.com. Bashaw now is a multimedia specialist in the UHV School of Education & Human Development.

Harry Bashaw

The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communications professionals. The platinum award is the highest honor given out in the competition.  

Gutierrez also won a gold award in the competition for her creative work on the 2012-2013 UHV Viewbook. Cari Laza, a former graphic designer in the Marketing Department, received an honorable mention award for her “Financial Aid: Helping You Fund the Journey” brochure designed for the UHV Financial Aid Department.  

Only 18 percent of entries in the MarCom Awards 2012 competition were designated platinum winners. Another 18 percent were gold winners, and 10 percent were given honorable mention awards.  

“We are delighted to receive this recognition,” said Paula Cobler, UHV interim director of marketing and communications. “Our design team has done a tremendous job on projects during the past year, and they are certainly deserving of this honor. They do a great job of presenting information on brochures, posters and other materials in a manner that is eye-catching and conveys UHV’s message.”  

Gutierrez earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in communication design from Texas State University, where she won awards for her student work. She previously worked for Aloe Software Group as a designer and also designs websites for a company based in Austin. Gutierrez began working in the UHV Marketing Department in June 2011.  

This is Gutierrez’s second and third awards from the MarCom competition. Last year, she won a gold award for a poster she designed that advertised a faculty member’s lecture series.  

Laza worked at UHV from 2010 until September when she left to devote more time to her design company, carilaza designs. She won an honorable mention award last year for a logo designed for UHV’s new student orientation, Jaguar Journey.  

Gutierrez is part of the Marketing Department creative services team, which includes manager Melody Vecera and graphic designer George Rodriguez. The department develops, executes and monitors public relations and marketing plans for the university and its departments and schools.    

This year’s MarCom competition featured work from the U.S., Canada and several other countries. Entries came from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.  

The MarCom Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals based in Arlington. The judges are industry professionals.