Student Competition

Student Competition: Let's Face It, It's All About the Internship! Part 1

We've just opened up our 2014 Student Design Competition (get all the details here!) and we're talking to some of last year's competition winners to give you a little inspiration and motivation to get started on your own entries. Of course the cash and Adobe Creative Cloud membership prizes are worthy enough, but did we mention you can also win an INTERNSHIP at a top NYC magazine???

It's probably the most valuable part of the prize. And you don't even have to win one of the top 3 spots to get it ... while it's only guaranteed to our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, many of our runners-up also get the chance at an internship!

Want proof of just how incredible an experience that can be? Well, we got a few of our recent winners to give you a little recap and today we're talking to one of last year's runners-up, Grayce Holcomb:

2013 SPD STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION

RUNNER-UP

Grayce Holcomb

SCHOOL: Montana State University

LEVEL: Senior (now a recent grad)

INSTRUCTOR: Stephanie Newman

CATEGORY: How-To

INTERNSHIP PRIZE: People magazine

SPD-U: As an intern at People this past summer, what kinda things did you get to do?

GRAYCE: I actually got to design stuff! (See some of her pages above.) By my second week, I was designing pages to actually be printed! People has a reach of 41 million people each week, so it's safe to say this was the most viewed work I've done to date. I also worked closely with the iPad team, redesigning pages for the tablet aspect ratio. I was even there to witness everything that went on behind the scenes for the Royal Baby - if you didn't notice, People was the only weekly to get their timing just right in order to get that now famous image of the royal couple & baby on the cover. It was neat to see and be a part of all the preparation that went into that one issue months ahead of time.

SPD-U: Anytime you start a new job or experience, we all find that we have some weaknesses. What skills did you find you were weakest in that you now want to get better at or suggest future interns consider working on?

GRAYCE: I knew going into this internship that one of my biggest challenges was going to be communicating with my colleagues. I'm pretty shy, but I knew I had to actually talk to people to get the most I possibly could out of this opportunity. My advice to future interns would be to ask lots of questions - everyone there was super nice and willing to help!

SPD-U: What was your favorite and least favorite part about living in NYC?

GRAYCE: Oh my gosh, it's so hard to choose a favorite! I had never really spent a lot of time in a big city, so acclimatizing to one of the biggest cities in the world was REALLY hard for me. I had a hard time finding a quiet, peaceful place... And then I discovered the MET (and MoMA and the Frick). Having all of that wonderful artwork in walking distance was probably the best part. I also love food, so having an infinite amount of options for dinner was literally the best thing that's ever happened to me. I also loved the subway system... and the Highline... and...

SPD-U: Any other commentary about the experience?

GRAYCE: GO. If you get offered this opportunity or something similar, just drop everything and go. I seriously considered not going because I was afraid of the city, and now after it's over, I can see how much I would have missed out on! I know how cliché it is to say this, but it really was life-changing.

You can find Grayce online here:

WEBSITE: http://grayceholcomb.com/

INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/graycelu (I posted a lot of photos from my stay in NYC here)

TWITTER: @grayceholcomb

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Ready to win YOUR internship? Then get started on your Student Design Competition entries using all the tips, rules and details here. Questions? Email us at spdstudentoutreach@gmail.com.