Unleashing student creativity with Adobe’s Digital Edge Awards

Adobe’s annual Digital Edge Awards can be a game changer for the college and university students who compete in it — helping them discover their inner “digital creators,” developing their responsible use of Generative AI, and preparing them for the demands of a modern, dynamic workforce.

For Keshawna Fields, one of the winners of Adobe’s 2023 Digital Edge Awards, the experience boosted her confidence in ways she believes will inspire her throughout her career.

“It helped me discover another part of me that I didn’t know existed - the person who isn’t afraid to create digital products and share them with the world,” said Fields, who recently finished her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.

“Just being able to be recognized by Adobe for something I wrote kind of lit a fire inside me,” said the 25-year-old, who was one of five students from US and UK colleges and universities who won a 2023 Digital Edge Award. “It challenged me and took me to the next level, literally. This is something I’ll be able to carry with me for the rest of my life.”

The contest, which launches this year on February 15, celebrates students who use Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Adobe Express, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Firefly to create game-changing projects.

The contest is open to college and university students from the UK and US. This year, Adobe is expanding the reach and scope of the Digital Edge Awards from five to seven prizes. There will also be awards for three new categories.

The goal of Adobe’s Digital Edge Awards is to enhance higher education students’ competency in digital literacy using mediums they are passionate about, and spark their imaginations and creativity.

The contest also encourages educators to incorporate digital literacy into their curriculum. The result? Students who are better able to find their individual voices while preparing for the demands of a modern, ever-evolving workforce.

About the 2024 Awards

Awardees from Adobe’s 2024 Digital Edge Awards will include: one primary winner from the field of Art and Design; another primary winner from Business, Health, Social Science or STEM — and a Digital Edge Standout Winner.

In addition, a Creative Campus Award will go to a student from an Adobe Creative Campus Institution. These institutions have made a commitment to digital literacy and have empowered students in all disciplines with the opportunity to learn essential digital skills that will allow them to succeed in the classroom and beyond. They also offer their students full access to Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Express.

A Product Spotlight Award will go to a student for excellence in the exclusive use of Adobe Express. Adobe Express, our new, all-in-one design, photo and video tool, makes content creation easy. It gives users a quick and simple way to make high-impact design elements, engaging videos and images, and stunning documents and PDFs.

One other Product Spotlight Award will go to a student for excellence in the exclusive use of Adobe Firefly. Adobe Firefly is designed to be an ethically safe AI tool for higher education. To address copyright concerns with generative AI, Adobe carefully trained its Firefly model on Adobe Stock images, openly licensed content and public domain materials. As a founding collaborator of the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), Adobe, along with its global, cross-industry community, is setting the industry standard for responsible generative AI, helping to prevent misinformation and increase transparency around the use of AI.

When students learn to think creatively, communicate visually, and handle AI responsibly, they can develop into inspired storytellers in a range of academic disciplines, said Dr. Todd Taylor, professor of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

“We find that when students need to solve problems and they use digital tools to do so, they think more deeply about the subject matter,” Taylor added. “They also think about the most effective and responsible ways of communicating information — and that enhances their learning as well as their work and its impact.”

Since its launch in 2021, the Digital Edge Awards contest has received 2,400 entries from more than 830 educational institutions in the US and UK.

Find out more about the Digital Edge Awards here, and explore Adobe Creative Cloud.