The winners of the 2020/2021 Graduation Competition have been chosen!
Following 2 rounds of rigorous judging, the jurors have decided that the following two papers stood out the most:
- In the Bachelor category, Aisling Hoban, a student from Technological University Dublin won with her thesis ‘A Study of Millennials’ Susceptibility to Nostalgia During Times of Uncertainty: A Focus on Nostalgic Consumption During Covid-19.’
- In the Master’s category Luísa Perdigão from IADE won with her work ‘The influence of the humoristic tone on the effectiveness of environmental narratives.’
The Competition rewards the best Bachelor and Master theses on advertising or commercial communications among edcom member schools with a €400 cash prize.
Aisling Hoban, the BA winner, said:
“Upon graduating during a pandemic with a first class honours degree, I was over the moon to hear that my thesis was also awarded a first class honours grade. As Covid-19 spread across the world, I capitalised on this as an opportunity to explore Millennials’ susceptibility to nostalgia during such unprecedented times. The contextual opportunity fell on my lap and I was really excited to be able to conduct some ‘original’ research on something that has never been done before! I wanted to get my research out there so I entered the EACA graduation competition. I was so thrilled to hear I got through to the next round, let alone hearing that I won the competition! I am so proud of what I have achieved. It feels truly gratifying that my work has been recognised on a European level. Working on my thesis from home was made all the more manageable with my amazing friends and family by my side. I’d like to express my gratitude for the amazing support I received from my supervisor Valerie Gannon and my year head Roger Sherlock at TU Dublin – a technological university adept at sculpting world-renowned academics.”
Besides the winning paper, the jurors awarded the second & third place. Carla Dejonghe, from the HOWEST University of Applied Sciences with her thesis on How do the images of sustainable food on Instagram and in three Belgian press titles, influence the communication of food companies? won the second place. Lena Schallhammer from FH Wien scooped a third place with her paper on The Corporate Visual Identity of the restaurant industry.
Luísa Perdigão, MA winner 2021, commented:
“I didn’t know about the edcom Graduation Competition until I was told that my thesis had been picked to take part in the contest, which took me by surprise. This competition is truly an excellent initiative that offers students the opportunity to exhibit their work on a large scale. Personally I saw it as a great way to develop my ability to synthesize and reflect on the work I had previously done. It was certainly an extremely rewarding experience, which I was only able to have in large part thanks to the support and cooperation of my supervisor Isabel Farinha.”
In the master category, the jurors also awarded the second & third place. Kerry Mahony, from the TU Dublin with her thesis entitled Glamour, Gloss, and the Girl Boss: A Discourse Analytical Study of Postfeminist Narratives as seen in Beauty Blog ‘Into The Gloss’ won the second place. Karsten Beeker from Breda University of Applied Science scooped a third place with his paper on Watching the Game: The Impact of Virtual Reality on Viewing Experiences in Esports.
Here you can access the winning papers’ summaries and posters. For more information, please visit the competition’s website.