National Student Advertising Competition
National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC)
Alabama has had an NSAC team for over 40 years.
Alabama has been a major player at the district and national level since the beginning of the competition in 1973. I’ve only been the advisor for the team since the 2017 year (Tai Pei, any one?). I inherited the tradition of excellence that has characterized our participation in the program. I only have data on our results going back to 1986, but in the last 34 years, we’ve won our district nine times, and finished in the top three in our district 26 out of 34 years. We’ve been to nationals at least nine times, and were national champions in 2000 for our campaign for the New York Times. The 2019 team won our district and placed 6th at nationals for our campaign for Wienerschnitzel.
UA’s AdTeam has traditionally attracted many of the best advertising and public relations students in the program, but you don’t have to be an ad or PR student to participate. Many of the team members have come from other majors – JCM, Marketing and Graphic Design among them.
The team is selected through a highly competitive application process. The application window is usually at the beginning of the fall semester each year. The team is selected in October, and then works on the campaign outside of class time during the fall and the winter break. In the spring, students on the team take APR 490, which depending on where a student is in their academic career, can count as an elective or as their APR Campaigns requirement.
NSAC applications are taken in early fall.
The NSAC team application process starts in late August, and applications are generally due around September 10th each year, followed by a round of interviews. Applications can be found on the CIS Engagement Portal. Click below to find out if applications are available yet.