"I was kind of surprised, I didn't put a lot of effort into the poster," said winner Evan Lanham, a junior. "I just wanted to get the point across without a lot of distractions from the point. I wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing, but simple."
His first time submitting a work for publication, he said the feedback he received from the evaluation board was helpful.
"They said it was clean and got the message across clearly, which is what I was going for in the first place," Lanham said.
The four finalists for the poster contest were Camree Mullinax, Jake Green, Lanham and D'Andre Quattlebaum.
"[Webb] worked through the comments, identified the four that seemed to be getting the most recognition then made edits per her recommendations and our recommendations," said Carole Miller with the Great Lake Allatoona Clean Up, who had an evaluation board with graphic design professionals judge the work.
While upper-level graphic design students must build a portfolio, there is no requirement students submit work for publication. However, Webb said she felt it would be a good experience for the introductory-level students.
"The intro kids basically learn the skills, software, design concepts, design elements and how to see things and make marketing effective," Webb said.
The room is equipped with Apple Mac computers which students have used to produce posters to be displayed throughout the school.
"We do a lot inside the school, but we don't do a lot of work outside the school," Webb said. "... On a lot of the inside [designs] we work on, it's tough to get criticism on that level. They usually don't get real-world criticism and they were told [the evaluation board] is a real client and they didn't see the client face-to-face.
"Like in the real world, they were handed a job and you do it and you respond to the comments given," Webb said.
The clean up is scheduled for Sept. 22.