According to the school, South Africa has some of the most talented young creatives, who annually compete for a host of awards and accolades in their respective fields of expertise. 

"We are honoured and delighted that 2022's students, with the dedication and support of our academic navigators, once more continued IIE-Vega's position at the top of the leader board in the industry," says Christiaan Graaff: IIE-Vega programme and awards navigator.

Graaff adds, "We commend and congratulate them for their hard work and commitment, and look forward to seeing what mountains they will be moving as they join the industry, where their future employers will be fortunate to have creatives with their level of qualification and experience."

IIE-Vega won at the global Creative Conscience Awards. The school says that its students brought about positive change through creative thinking and innovation, bagging themselves six awards:
  • one Gold
  • three Silver
  • two Bronze, and
  • two Commendations. 

Students Megan Hills, Christopher Meiring and Aumi Hooseria (with academic navigators Carmen Gunkel and Sonja van den Berg) from IIE-Vega's Pretoria Campus shot to Gold for their 'Mental Health campaign' for Stabilo.

Representing the same campus, Manushri Naidoo bagged a Silver award for her campaign for Hario in the Environment & Sustainability category.

The Loeries saw IIE-Vega students walk away with:
  • one Gold
  • two Silver
  • one Bronze, and
  • one Craft Certificate.

Veganite Megan Hills took the top spot for her packaging design of Pikkld with the support of her academic navigator Carmen Gunkel.

Cape Town students Kellan Jackson, Finn du Plessis and Michelle du Plessis (Academic navigators Anka Joubert, Mandy Speechly, Nico Jardim) bagged Silver for their Grasshoppers Integrated Campaign, 'Cringe Couture'. Another Silver went to Megan Hills for her product design, Pupil Optics in the General Design category.

Hills was supported by her navigator Carmen Gunkel.

Every year The Loeries, in partnership with Woolworths, runs the Loeries x Woolworths Student Portfolio Bootcamp, which saw IIE-Vega land second place in 2022.

The boot camp features sessions where industry leaders get the chance to mentor creative students by sharing their knowledge and experience of the industry with them. The students then get the opportunity to present their portfolios to their mentors, who offer invaluable advice and critique. Kayleigh Hunter, a third-year digital design Veganite from Johannesburg, laid claim to second place.

The IIE-Vega Bordeaux celebrated the IAB Bookmark Awards by bagging the Black Pixel Award for Best Digital Student for the sixth year.

The school congratulates Veganites Bronwyn Jenkinson, Joshua Matseke, Mariam Mohamed, Tanna Teixeira and Gabriella Capazorio, and their academic navigators Lindelihle Bhebhe, Farrell West and Darren Meltz who guided them in producing award-winning work.

At the WPO WorldStar Student Awards, three Veganites were awarded WorldStar Student Certificates of Recognition. To qualify for this prestigious recognition, students' work needs to score above the qualifying standard.

The WorldStar Awards is an international competition designed to recognise student talent that excels in innovative thinking and design in the packaging field. This year they received around 300 entries from students across the globe, which makes this a remarkable achievement for students:
  • Oyama Njeza
  • Khaleel Khan, and
  • Jenna Alexander.

The Pendorings is another staple of the awards industry and this year, Veganites continued its success by scooping five Silver Awards from the 14 finalist entries. Pendoring Awards is unique because it promotes and embraces creative ideas, solutions and content that celebrates the richness of our country's indigenous languages.

According to the school, the competition was fierce, but Veganites prevailed. In the Pendorings annual rankings, IIE-Vega made it to the top three creative tertiary institutions by claiming second place.

IIE-Vega had four finalists competing in the graphic design category at the Student Gold Pack Awards. These awards celebrate the African Packaging Industry and honour excellence across various packaging solutions.

Students are encouraged to explore, ideate and create innovative, eye-catching and smart solutions for the exciting world of packaging.

It was an outstanding achievement to have four Veganites selected as finalists, and an accolade of the highest order for Veganite Erin Coetzee, a second-year student from Cape Town, who:
  • was awarded Best Project in the Brief 2 category
  • coming in second overall in the Graphic Design category, and
  • walking away with the Silver.

"Looking back at their success in 2022, we want to commend all our students for their hard work, commitment, vision and tenacity on their road to becoming valuable members of their respective industries. And we want to particularly thank our amazing winners, as well as their navigators for consistently helping our students excel year after year," concludes Graaff.

For more information, visit www.vegaschool.com. You can also follow Vega School on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.