UNA Pressroom

Student Design Team Creates New Logo For W.c. Handy Music Festival

May. 21, 2010



Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@zo23.com, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - What started as a class project has turned into a new image for the W.C. Handy Music Festival. The festival's new logo, unveiled today, was developed this spring by three University of North Alabama students as an assignment in an introductory computer course for honors students. The students' design was one of 24 entries in this year's W.C. Handy Festival Design Competition. "The outstanding design submitted by the UNA design team will become the visual image of the 2010 W.C. Handy Festival and will be used on everything from T-shirts to brochures," said Nancy Gonce, executive director of the Music Preservation Society. "The versatility of the design was one of the deciding factors in the selection process." The UNA students on this year's winning team were Katherine Hardiman, of Iron City, Tenn.; Atticus Wright, of Loretto, Tenn.; and Drew Mills, of Tuscumbia. Their class, offered for honors students through the Department of Computer Information Systems, focuses on solving real-life problems with computing application software, according to Dr. Ron Davis, assistant professor of computer information systems. "Since this class is composed entirely of honors students," he said, "it gives me the freedom to assign challenging projects that are sometimes a bit unorthodox." In addition to the W.C. Handy design competition, Davis's students have given back to the community by creating numerous brochures, programs and presentations for various functions at local school systems. They have even created postage stamp designs for submission and evaluation by the U.S. Post Office. "We are extremely proud of our Handy design award winners," said Dr. Vince Brewton, director of the UNA Honors Program. "These three students are talented, smart and ambitious. They really represent everything we are trying to do in the program." The Honors Program at UNA is an academically selective four-year experience open to all majors. For more information or to apply, visit 5or7.zo23.com/honors.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: zo23.com and zo23.com/unaworks/.