Vietnamese students soar at global creative awards

RMIT students and fresh graduates won an impressive five Gold, 13 Silver, 13 Bronze awards, and 13 finalist titles at the Crowbar Awards 2025, one of the most prestigious student awards in South East Asia organised by the Association of Advertising & Marketing Singapore (AAMS). With this outstanding achievement, RMIT Vietnam also won Institution of the Year (Silver).

This accolade was matched with multiple wins at the UK-based World Brand Design Society (WBDS) Student Awards, where the University climbed into the top 5 worldwide for 2025-26 and moved from 16th to 8th in the all‑time global rankings.

One of the standout performers of the Crowbar Awards 2025 was Into Saigon Market, a project by RMIT Design Studies fresh graduates Ngo Viet Dung and Bui Hoang Ngoc Nhi, which swept several Gold awards.

The project reimagines traditional Saigon markets as immersive cultural portals, revitalised through augmented reality (AR), geofencing, and gamified navigation. Through its use of emerging technologies, an AR companion inspired by the folkloric Land Genie, and interactive cultural storytelling routes, Into Saigon Market transforms lesser‑known markets into dynamic cultural tourism experiences.

Other RMIT‑produced works also achieved impressive success. Projects such as Tourists Go Home, Year 13, DropWise, and The Synesthesia received awards across outdoor communication, art direction, product innovation and packaging, demonstrating the breadth of creative experimentation by Vietnamese students.

At the WBDS Awards, RMIT students were similarly recognised for conceptually rich and culturally grounded work. Projects Gia (Family) and Hương (Vietnamese Incense) earned distinctions in packaging, identity, digital design, and writing, reinforcing Vietnam’s growing visibility in global branding and design education.

According to Dr Soumik Parida, Associate Program Manager for Professional Communication, the wins reflect years of sustained, rigorous creative development at RMIT. Nearly half of the Crowbar‑winning projects came out of the University’s Creative Competitions course, where students refine ideas through professional‑level creative processes and intensive industry mentorship.

“These achievements validate student work against international standards, and connect education to industry relevance, directly influencing our graduates’ employability,” Dr Parida said.

Previously in November 2025, three RMIT Vietnam Design Studies students earned memberships in the highly selective International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) Student Scheme 2025, Asia-Pacific Region. These included a Membership with Commendation (the highest level of recognition), marking the first time a Vietnamese design student has achieved this recognition.

Dr Manny Ling, Deputy Dean of the RMIT Vietnam School of Communication & Design, said the international awards point to a broader shift within Vietnam’s creative landscape. 

“We are witnessing Vietnamese young people stepping confidently onto world stages, not by imitating global trends, but by bringing forward stories, aesthetics, and design philosophies uniquely their own. The standard of Vietnamese students in creative disciplines is now on par, and even surpasses, their international peers. This success signals a new era for Vietnam as a source of creative leadership in the region,” he said.

Story: Ngoc Hoang