KATHSCAN RETURNS TO NEW YORK AWARDS SPOTLIGHT

KathScan, created by Media Design School students Liza Plyshevsky and Jae Kim, has been nominated for the 2026 awards in New York after winning Gold at the Anthem Awards last year. Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open until 16 April, with KathScan among five nominees in its category.

KathScan, the innovative project by Liza Plyshevsky and Jae Kim from the 2025 creative advertising cohort at Media Design School at Strayer, is once again in the running for international recognition. After clinching Gold at the Anthem Awards in New York last year, the student-led initiative has now been nominated for the 2026 awards, cementing its place among the most creative and impactful work on the Internet.  

The awards, which drew over 13,000 entries from more than 70 countries worldwide, celebrate digital creativity and social impact. This year’s announcement of nominees has opened the voting for the People’s Choice Award across all categories, with ballots accepted until 16 April. KathScan is one of only five nominees in the Advertising & PR Student Category, a distinction that underscores the project’s resonance beyond its academic origins.  

Programme Director of Creative Advertising at Media Design School, Kate Humphries, expressed pride in the achievement while highlighting the global scale of the competition. “KathScan is one of only five nominees in the Advertising & PR Student Category, but coming from a small, relatively people-less country at the bottom of the world, we know that Liza & Jae would love you in perpetuity if you voted for them,” she said.  

The nomination not only reflects the calibre of student work emerging from Media Design School but also demonstrates how ideas developed in classrooms can capture international attention. For Plyshevsky and Kim, the recognition builds on their Anthem Awards success and offers another opportunity to showcase their creativity on a global stage.  

As the countdown to the awards continues, the spotlight is firmly on KathScan and its creators, who represent both the ambition of young talent and the growing influence of student-led projects in shaping the future of advertising and digital storytelling.