Downingtown native Julia Abbonizio, an advertising photography major at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), recently won gold at the 2021 Rochester ADDY Awards in the category of Cross-Platform Integrated Campaigns, writes Rochelle Allan for RIT.

The American Advertising Awards, or ADDY Awards, honor the best in advertising and cultivate the highest creative standards in the industry. Abbonizio won with two other students, Jordan Hundelt and Bianca Ranciato. They submitted their advertising campaign for Hello personal hygiene products.

The team received a scholarship for Best Student Work and will compete for a national ADDY Award in June.

The team started working on an advertising campaign last spring, just before the pandemic. They shifted their collaboration to Zoom, planning their approach to menstrual cups — an eco-friendly alternative to tampons.

During their research, they discovered Hello, a producer of menstrual cups made from safe, food-grade materials. They used that fact to debunk the “unsafe” myth surrounding the product and started conceptualizing the campaign.

Then, they tagged the company on Instagram, and Hello posted their work on its social media channels.

Now, the trio is heading to the national championship with high hopes for winning.

“If we did this once, we can do it again,” said Abbonizio.

Read more about Julia Abbonizio from Rochester Institute of Technology.