Students from the Department of Creative Technologies at FH Salzburg can look back on an exceptionally successful semester. Several final projects received top honours at national and international creative competitions, including gold at the CCA Venus Award and two Grand Prix placements at the ADC Talent Award.
One of the big winners was the web app "Spot a Bot", which was developed by an interdisciplinary project team of students from the MultiMediaTechnology and MultiMediaArt programmes. The innovative final project draws attention to the increasing spread of fake news in social networks. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), the app detects Twitter bots that spread targeted false news for political influence.
Grand Prix double win at the ADC Talent Award
The project team was awarded gold at the Venus Award of the Creative Club Austria (CCA) for its outstanding implementation. At the Talent Award of the Art Directors Club Germany (ADC), "Spot a Bot" received the Grand Prix - the highest award - in the category of final projects and also two gold medals for first-class design of a digital product and the creative use of AI and machine learning.
"The degree programmes at the Department of Creative Technologies combine technology and design to add value to society. We are particularly proud that a final project that perfectly represents these qualities has received multiple awards," explains head of department Hilmar Linder.
Another ADC Grand Prix and a gold award went to the semester project "Bridges" from the Communication Design Department. The collection shows dystopian thought experiments on the future of the city of Salzburg and, according to the justification, "captivated the jury with overwhelming storytelling in such a way that they immediately wanted to think the story through further."
"We are experiencing an unprecedented winning streak this year. The many gold placements and especially the winning of the two highest Grand Prix prizes at the German ADC Talent Awards are unique and show that the students of the Department of Creative Technologies play in the top league of creative universities," explains Viktoria Schneider-Kirjuchina, Head of Academic area of Communication Design.
6th place in the worldwide university ranking
Not only in German-speaking countries, but also in the USA, the projects of the FH Salzburg caused a sensation. At the "Young Ones Award", which is awarded annually in New York by the "One Club for Creativity" - one of the world's largest creative clubs - there were a total of 6 precious metal placements for Salzburg students this year.
The awareness spot "doubts" on the topic of mental health won a Golden Cube in the category for film and camera. The film students Felix Foltas and Julian Ferner were each awarded for their overall portfolio. As in the previous year, the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences thus once again took a spectacular 6th place in the worldwide ranking of creative universities.