American Advertising Award Winners
There are some pretty outstanding creatives in South Dakota who now have a little extra street cred to add to their name. Check out the past winners below!
Our 59th American Advertising Awards show was held on February 28th, 2025 and honored 2024 award winners.
Creative Legacy Award
2024 AWARD WINNER
Greg Veerman
Greg Veerman had a gift. He was known for his confidence and bold thinking. He was routinely recognized in creative circles for thinking beyond the obvious. He relentlessly pursued excellence and demanded the same from others.
For more than 30 years, he managed to come up with smart, interesting ways to cut through the clutter while demanding flawless execution. He was masterful at getting everyone around him to believe in – and get excited about – his vision. Greg’s body of work speaks for itself and his ability to lead a creative team to excellence was unmatched. He was collaborative and worked to make people feel included and have a say, while holding true to his vision. Always upbeat, Greg looked for positive outcomes and was strictly focused on the work. He genuinely made everything look effortless.
Greg was a loving and devoted family man. And he was a loyal and inspirational friend to many. He has left his mark as both a friend and as a professional. As a man who truly created his own legacy, he is very deserving of being recognized for the successful career he had.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Silver Medal Award
2024 AWARD WINNERS
PREVIOUS WINNERS
Karla Santi
Before she held the title of "CEO and Owner" of a successful web development company, Karla Santi was a solo entrepreneur, making the most of her creativity by designing websites for her clients. After Karla co-founded Blend Interactive, she added a CEO hat alongside her designer one. In doing so, she helped shape Blend's design practice with her creative input and her skills as a business leader.
20 years later, the company she founded has put South Dakota on the map when it comes to web design, development, and strategy - empowering teams across the region and country to execute their complex content strategies according to web best practices. Karla fosters partnerships with marketing agencies and creative freelancers in our community, hoping to extend new opportunities to the other talented firms in Sioux Falls.
Additionally, she lends her leadership and design skills to organizations she believes in and knows will impact those in our community, including boards like Startup Sioux Falls, Lets Skate, Embe, and Sioux Falls Development Foundation, to name a few. Throughout her career, Karla has made major contributions to the Sioux Falls community with her own talents and even more so as a creative business leader.