Fourth-year York/Sheridan design student Sharis Shahmiryan helped the Toronto Star score a big 
success in a recent competition held by the Society for News Design (SND). Her work earned three of the 21 international awards of excellence won by the Star.
Shahmiryan’s designs, titled "Cocktail Chatter", "Lashout " and "Tempting the Cities", captured awards in the Feature Design category. An intern at the newspaper, Shahmiryan was thrilled that her work had received recognition. "The intern page designer works with editors, photographers and illustrators to design pages for many sections of the newspaper," explained Shahmiryan. "To be successful, you have to follow the news and be passionate about using design to help readers understand stories."
Right: "Tempting the Cities" by Sharis Shahmiryan
The SND competition recognizes excellence in visual journalism: design, graphics and photography. This year’s contest attracted 13,862 entries by 394 newspapers in 46 countries around the world, which were adjudicated by a diverse slate of international judges.
The winners’ works and judges’ comments will be showcased in the 28th edition book, titled The Best of Newspaper Design, available this fall.
SND is an international professional organization mandated to enhance communication around the world through excellence in visual journalism. Founded in 1979, the society has more than 2,400 professional, educator and student members in 54 countries. For more information, visit www.snd.org.