The University of Houston-Victoria won Best of Show and 15 other prestigious ADDY awards Thursday for its advertising and marketing work in 2012.

UHV won the creative excellence awards at the American Advertising Federation-Victoria ADDY Awards Gala at the Leo J. Welder Center. The 16 awards were three more than what the university won last year.

UHV won four special awards, including the top prize of the night. A poster campaign for the UHV Counseling Center created by Graphic Designer Amberley Gutierrez was named Best of Show.

"I am delighted that UHV and the Marketing Department staff received much-deserved recognition for their creativity and hard work this past year," said Paula Cobler, UHV interim director of marketing and communications. "To win 16 ADDY''s, including eight Gold Awards, is a tremendous accomplishment. We have some very talented and creative staff members, and I''m proud of their efforts to make UHV shine."

Members of the UHV Marketing Department who worked on the award-winning projects are Cobler; Gutierrez; Melody Vecera, creative services manager; George Rodriguez, graphic designer; Cari Laza, former graphic designer; Katy Walterscheidt and Jeremy Shapiro, communications specialists; and Della Rampley, administrative secretary.

Marketing and UHV''s Technology Services Department teamed up to create the History in the Making 2011-2012 Annual Report website, www.uhvannualreport.com. The website won three awards: Best of Digital, Gold Award Annual Report and a Special Judges award.

Members of UHV Technology Services Department who worked on the annual report website were Marci Wallace, Web services manager; Eric Chacon and Warren Diprose, Web developers; Amanda Reid, Internet technician and Jennifer Opiela, Web projects manager. Also assisting with the website was Michael Cloud, owner of Bright Idea Media.

The materials created by Gutierrez that went along with the annual report won the Best of Print and a Gold Award for Special Event Campaign.

"I''m thrilled the History in the Making annual report was well received during the ADDY''s because so many of our staff members put a great deal of time and energy into making it an exceptional report," Vecera said.

Below are the awards received and the name of the project:

• Best of Show - UHV Counseling Center poster campaign
• Best of Digital- UHV annual report website
• Best of Print - UHV annual report collateral materials
• Special Judges Award - UHV annual report website
• Gold Award Stationary Package - UHV stationery
• Gold Award Book Design - UHV viewbook
• Gold Award Poster - Transatlantic conference poster, "We Called for Workers but People Came"
• Gold Award Poster Campaign - UHV Counseling Center poster campaign
• Gold Award Special Event Campaign - History in the Making 2011-2012 annual report
• Gold Award Out-of-Home Campaign - UHV shuttle bus wraps
• Gold Award Annual Report - UHV annual report website
• Gold Award Logo - UHV Counseling Center logo
• Silver Award Consumer Campaign - UHV registration campaign
• Bronze Award Logo - UHV 40th anniversary logo
• Bronze Award Collateral Material Brochure - UHV 2012 freshman brochure
• Bronze Award Publication Design Cover - UHV baseball program

The awards are determined by judges based on their professional opinions of the quality of work in that category. A certain set of criteria must be met for an entry to receive each level of award.

The ADDY Awards is a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation. The eight gold awards UHV won Thursday will be automatically entered in the District ADDY Awards competition. District winners then compete in the national ADDY Awards competition. Last year, two of UHV''s entries won awards at the district level.

The ADDY''s are the advertising industry''s largest and most representative competition for creative excellence.