A Night to Remember: The 2025 American Advertising Awards Seattle

On Thursday, April 03 the Seattle advertising and creative community gathered for an unforgettable night of inspiration, recognition, and celebration at the 2025 American Advertising Awards Seattle Gala—marking the triumphant return of AAF Seattle’s biggest annual event to a live, in-person format after five years online.

Held at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus, this nearly sold-out event welcomed hundreds of creative professionals, agency leaders, students, and supporters to honor the very best in advertising across the region. From bold integrated campaigns to powerful public service storytelling, the work celebrated this year reflected not just creative excellence but cultural impact, collaboration, and purpose.

A Triumphant Return to the Stage

The American Advertising Awards—affectionately known as the ADDYs—are part of the nation’s largest and most representative advertising competition, attracting more than 25,000 entries each year across three tiers: local, district, and national.

For the Seattle creative community, this year’s gala wasn’t just another awards show—it was a comeback story. After half a decade of virtual gatherings, the event marked a bold new chapter for AAF Seattle, a club that nearly closed its doors in mid-2024. But thanks to a revitalized board, a passionate volunteer base, and the support of industry leaders, the organization has entered what President Valentina Gomez Bravo calls “our comeback era.”

“Rebuilding AAF Seattle has been a labor of love,” said Gomez Bravo during her opening remarks. “This event mattered—not just for us as individuals, but for the entire community. It was a night to remember, and we hope it’s the first of many more to come.”

Honoring Legacy: The Silver Medal Award

One of the evening’s most anticipated moments was the presentation of the Silver Medal Award, the highest honor AAF Seattle bestows each year. This prestigious recognition celebrates those who have made significant contributions to advertising and demonstrated a consistent commitment to creative excellence and industry advancement.

Presented by advertising legend Tracy Wong, this year’s Silver Medal was awarded to two outstanding leaders: Matt McCain and Michael Boychuk, whose collaborative legacy has shaped some of the most celebrated work in the region and mentored a generation of creative professionals. Their tribute video, produced by their agency peers, was met with roaring applause and a standing ovation.

Learn more about the Silver Medal Award and the honorees.

The Judges, the Work, the Wins

The 2025 show was judged by a panel of nationally recognized creative leaders from outside the Seattle market. Their selections reflected the breadth and depth of talent across the region, with entries evaluated across traditional, digital, social, experiential, student, and public service categories.

For the first time ever, AAF Seattle introduced Bronze Local Awards into the winner’s circle, allowing more outstanding work to be recognized alongside Silver and Gold ADDY honorees.

Among this year’s most notable winners:

• Herd of Shepherds and Smartsheet took home Best of Show for “Peak Fandom,” a campaign that blended creative craft and data-driven strategy with playful fan engagement.

• PB& LLC and Visit Seattle received the Mosaic Award for “Unsettled Territory,” recognizing excellence in multicultural marketing and inclusive storytelling.

• Judge’s Choice Awards were presented to:

  • VML Seattle for “The BOOM Inside You” with Washington’s Lottery & the Seahawks

  • DNA&STONE for “Scary Not Scary Question” with Seattle Children’s Hospital

  • Seattle Kraken for “Defend the Deep”

The show also highlighted student work from Seattle Central College and Western Washington University, underscoring the next generation of creative leaders.

A Look at SOME OF THE THE Winners

Here’s a simplified look at some of this year’s award recipients:

🏆 Best of Show

• Herd of Shepherds – “Peak Fandom” for Smartsheet

🥇 Gold ADDYs (Selected Highlights)

• VML Seattle – “The BOOM Inside You” for Washington’s Lottery / Seattle Seahawks

• Seattle Kraken – “The Creature” and “Hoist the Colors”

• Imaginary Friends – “This is Work” for Microsoft

• DNA&STONE – “Aegis – Aging is Life”

🥈 Silver ADDYs (Selected Highlights)

• Copacino + Fujikado – “Skip the Drama” for Sound Transit

• PB& LLC – “Unsettled Territory” for Visit Seattle

• Hydrogen – “Powering Generations” for Puget Sound Energy

• C+C – “Salmon Warriors” for Salmon Defense

🥉 Bronze Awards (New in 2025)

• FreshMade – “Dogs: The Ultimate Copilot” for Microsoft

• Bread n Butter – “Dick’s Drive-In x Royal Family Farms”

• Designit – “Packed with Joy” for Zipfizz

• University of Washington – “Brand Anthem”

🎓 Student Winners

• Jenny Katz, Seattle Central College – Quili Sustainable Packaging

• Cam Gibb, Western Washington University – MODE Summit 2025

A complete list of winners and categories can be found here.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

This year’s gala was made possible through the generous support of our event sponsors. AAF Seattle is deeply grateful to the following partners:

• Associated Posters Inc. – Our go-to source for large and grand format printing. Their beautiful banners welcomed every guest at the door, and they offer exclusive discounts to AAF members!

• Via Creatives – A powerhouse video production team that captured the night beautifully. We can’t wait to share their official recap.

• Offbeat Films – The storytellers behind our stunning photo booth experience. Check out the photos—they’re as authentic as they are fun.

• Weekend Photography (Jonathan Owens) – Candid moments, standing ovations, and all the sparkle in between—Jonathan captured it all live from the floor.

We’re proud to collaborate with sponsors who not only support the event but also uplift the creative community year-round.

View the Photo Album

📸 Relive the magic!
Our full photo gallery from the gala is now live.
Click here to view and download your favorite moments.

What’s Next for AAF Seattle?

The gala may be over, but AAF Seattle is just getting started.

With a revitalized board, a growing membership, and a renewed mission focused on Service, Growth, Recognition, and Connection, AAF Seattle is committed to building a more inclusive, accessible, and vibrant creative community.

“This isn’t just a comeback,” said Gomez Bravo. “It’s the beginning of a new chapter—and we want everyone to be a part of it.”

Want to get involved? Volunteer? Sponsor an upcoming event? Or just meet more people who get what you do?

👉 Contact us or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to stay connected.

About AAF Seattle

Founded in 1909, AAF Seattle is one of the oldest clubs in the American Advertising Federation, the nation’s only organization that brings together professionals across all disciplines and career levels in advertising. From students to CEOs, creatives to strategists, we’re here to champion the industry and the people who make it matter.

Want to help shape the future of AAF Seattle?
Join the movement. Be part of the momentum. And maybe… start working on your 2026 entry.

Western Regional Conference Roundup

Your trusty board recently took Reno by storm in hopes to double our revenue and advertising brain power at the AAF Western Regional Conference. Now that they've all recovered from the whirlwind of experts, seminars, buffets and lounge singers, we asked them to share their thoughts and things they learned at the conference. 

AAF Seattle board and friends

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Martin McGee, President

What I wanted to get out of this conference was to network with other clubs in the region to see what is and is not working for them. I want to get ideas to implement in Seattle and possibly provide ideas for other clubs to try.

My priorities coming out of this conference are around planning for the club—both short and long term. While the club has goals identified for the current year, I would like to develop a multi-year strategic plan.

The ever photogenic Martin 

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Mark Kurtz, Diversity & Multiculturalism

AAF Seattle is a force in the Western Region. We have the foundation in place to grow. The landscape of the term "advertising" is expanding to include many forms of marketing and we need to flexible in order to cater to the needs of our members.

This conference reinforced the responsibility we have as advertising and marketing professionals to elevate our work to the highest level. Numerous examples were given throughout the conference that rely on the many skill-sets that AAF Seattle represents—especially around creative storytelling and how to connect audiences to those key messages in a meaningful and relevant way. The collective work that our members produce has the ability to impact billions of people and this is a great industry to represent.

Mark puts his lucky charm to the test

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Charlotte Boutz, Vice President & Programs

I love to hear what other clubs are doing—both their success stories and their challenges. Each market is so different, so clubs approach serving their communities differently, but there’s still a lot to learn and share. 

The Reno team did a great job producing “bonus” content that was not directly related to the business of the organization, but helped open our minds and keep the energy level up. I was especially inspired by the team at Goodby Silverstein & Partners sharing the NBA Jingle Hoops campaign, and Jonathan Woytek from Pereira & O'Dell on the Skype Stay Together campaign. Beyond the concept development, which was incredibly powerful in both cases for different reasons, the creative problem solving that these teams pulled off throughout the production processes was jaw dropping. What a fun pair of reminders of why we’re in this business, and what it takes to tell a good story well.

Charlotte enjoys the Reno nightlife

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Audrey Berglund, American Advertising Awards

I always look forward to networking with other ADDY chairs and figuring out best practices based on their experiences. It’s a great place to share ideas and gain support.

This conference served as a great kickstart to this year’s American Advertising Awards. I got a lot accomplished in the way of event timeline, budgeting and committee building. I definitely have a plan of attack moving forward and am set up to run effective committee meetings.

Audrey strikes up a convo with the locals

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Cindy Pennington, Executive Director

I want our membership to know that your elected board desires to learn more about growing and promoting the advertising industry in Seattle. They want AAF Seattle not just be relevant to the agencies, but to the businesses, vendors and clients in the Seattle area.

Cindy takes in the sights

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Nik Amar, Advertising Education

I got some great ideas for programs from other clubs. It's a priority for me to work with the board to create greater, more bombastic membership drives, considering how essential membership is to the survival of our club.

Our club is large and diverse in membership and behavior. Members can take an active role in our club’s future through regular attendance and simply meeting and suggesting things to the board (not to mention volunteering).

Nik explores Reno's culture

Market Insights - New Name, Refined Offering

You may have noticed a slight change in the name of our panel and speaker-focused events. What used to be called our Speaker Series is now Market Insights. The spark came from our new ongoing venue for these events, the Pike Place Market Atrium Loft. Get it: educational events at the market, about marketing topics… I know, right?

But seriously folks… what started as a pun actually represents an upgrade in the perceived offering, from a slightly vague speaker event to more specific and relevant educational content.

This also allows us to consolidate from individual event-specific hashtags to one hashtag, #AAFInsights, that will span all the Market Insights events, providing an ongoing repository of social content from the series, including all the tweeted nuggets of wisdom from our speakers.

We're thankful for the great crowds at our events who inspire us to always look for ways to improve.

Don't miss our next Market Insights event, Distilling a Brand, June 19th.

We Got PMIP at After Hours: POSSIBLE

PMIP means People Make It Possible. Our After Hours at POSSIBLE showed that to be true, with a great crowd turning out for some networking and catching up with colleagues in the Z|Bar. We love that each of these events brings in a fantastic mix of new people, a cross-pollination of creatives to keep things fresh.

Special thanks to Hand Crank Films for the PIMMs, er, PMIP cocktails!

Check out the #AAFterHours social stream.

Full photo album on Facebook.

Hispanic Market Insights: Recap

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A great crowd turned out for a great event. We're proud to have presented such valuable content while expanding the reach of our community. We hoped you enjoyed the subject and the company--and our new ongoing Speaker Series venue, the Pike Place Market Atrium Loft.

Thanks to Patricia Morás for moderating and Kalil Vicioso and Rebecca Lambert for their fascinating reports on the state of what has overwhelmingly been shown as a growing, complex market of eager consumers, social participants, and cultural remixers.

Let us know what you thought of the event in our short survey.

Hybriculturalism. It's a Thing. Find Out More.

Thursday, April 10th, 6:00 p.m. at Pike Place Market Atrium

The hispanic market in the United States is more complex than most realize. This rich and diverse culture is more optimistic, more tech-savvy and more engaged than the average consumer. And it's growing in numbers while spreading geographically.

If you're a smart marketer, you'll want to know how to reach them effectively. If you're a not-so-bright marketer, you'll keep eating paste and won't do anything different.

Hispanic Market Insights is our next Speaker Series event, on April 10th. We've flown in Kalil Vicioso from New York City to talk about such fascinating trends as hybriculturalism. Rebecca Lambert will add a local perspective tuned with insights informed by real data. All facilitated by Patty Morás.

It's also our first event with our regular Signature Cocktail sponsor, Hand Crank Films, providing a South American rum punch for your enjoyment.

Sounds like we're all set for a great evening.

2014 American Advertising Awards Recap

Well, That Was Fun!

The 2014 American Advertising Awards Seattle was held March 19th at Bell Harbor International Conference Center.

We had a great night! Thanks to all the attendees, sponsors, winners, and our great volunteers!

Check out our compilation of the night's tweets, pics, and vids. See the entire social stream at #SeattleADDYs.

There isn't enough time for winners to give speeches during the show so we asked them to post their thanks to Instagram as videos. See the hilarious results here.

Download a PDF of the ADDY show book.

All our event photos can be found on Facebook, and the photobooth pics are on Usnaps.

Let us know what you thought of the night in our short survey.

Show MCs: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Musical Guests: The Flavr Blue

This year’s AAF Silver Medal Winner: John Brown

ADDY Judging Weekend 2014

Our new ADDY chair, Audrey Berglund, reports on the events of this past weekend:

"Judging for this year’s American Advertising Awards Seattle took place February 7-9 in the Bertha Knight Landis room at Seattle City Hall. Our five judges reviewed a record amount of entries. Naturally, they had many tough decisions to make. Thanks to our judges who came from all over the country to spend the weekend looking at Seattle’s best advertising work!"

Find out more about our judges on our ADDY Judges page.

Chalk Talk: Super Bowl Ad Replay 2014 - The Recap

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Chris Cashman, Erin Kelley, Zach Huntting, Alison Tintle, Trish Cox, Matt McCain

AAF Seattle and PSAMA hosted our annual review of Super Bowl ads Thursday, February 6th, at Impact Hub Seattle. This year's expert panel of Erin Kelley (POSSIBLE), Zach Huntting (Crown Social), Alison Tintle (Seattle Wunderman Network), Trish Cox (T-Mobile), and Matt McCain (WongDoody) delivered another evening of crack observations, unique insights and tweetable witticisms, all under the clever direction of our MC, Chris Cashman from KING 5 TV's The 206.

In addition to our ad industry veterans, we always try to feature someone from the brand side of things. This year we were fortunate to have Trish Cox, VP of National Advertising and Brand for T-Mobile, who provided her own perspective on the creation of T-Mobile's three Super Bowl ads.

Redhook Bewery returned as our beer sponsor, loosening up our crowd with Audible, Redhook, and Longhammer on tap.

For a more detailed play-by-play check out our Storify compilation of all the Super Bowl ads along with the top tweets and pics from the evening and during the game.

Find out more about our panel and host on Lanyrd.
See all the pics from the event on Facebook.
If you attended the event, we'd love your feeback in our short survey.

Update on 2014-03-12 20:08

Conor Gentes, Senior Account Executive at Seattle Wunderman Network, wrote a great summary of the event for their blog. Thanks again for lending Alison for our panel!

December Events: This Is How We Do It

This month we’ve got two events that pretty much reflect how we like to operate: a little bit of smart mixed with a little bit of sassy.

First up, our annual Jingle & Mingle, co-hosted with AIGA Seattle, at Melrose Market Studios on December 11th. We're again featuring our local designer showcase so you can gift creatively while supporting small creative businesses. Of course we've got food, and this year our holiday cocktail is sponsored by Hand Craft Films and poured by sponsor Shake Bartending. Throw in our ugly sweater contest complete with prizes, raffles and holiday photos by David Speranza, and you've got yourself a fun evening that probably tops whatever survived as your corporate holiday party after those budget cuts. That's the sassy part, by the way.

Register here

The smart part is our next Speaker Series, co-hosted with PSAMA, December 19th, at Seattle Public Library. TEDx speaker and author David Burkus will talk about "The Myths of Creativity" It's our first morning session, and to sweeten the deal we're giving members in attendance a free copy of the book, while non-members can buy it at a reduced price. Plus pastries and coffee, of course.

Register here

We hope to see you out this month!

Update

on 2013-12-15 02:00

Pics from the Jingle & Mingle are now available on Facebook and Flickr. Thanks again to David Speranza!

Update

on 2013-12-21 08:07

Pics from the David Burkus event are now available on Facebook. Thanks to Bianca Jessica!