A Night to Remember

Hall of Fame Hosts Corvette Designer and Trophy Winners

Like the classic Studebaker Avanti it honored, the Stellar Scholar Avanti Awards were created on a whirlwind schedule by less than a handful of designers and a few supportive architects who turned the original vision into palpable reality. The premise: A college-level car design competition for Metro Detroit high school students with entries submitted through their Art teachers. The contest exercise car to be designed was in the schematic mold of the original Avanti: A two-door sports coupe that would carry 4-5 passengers in spirited comfort. All illustration media from pastels to ink to computer-generated images were eligible for use by the student designers. Scoring by independent judges was set on the following criterion: 1-3 points for practicality; 1-3 points for quality of rendering; 1-4 points for originality. Perfect score: 10.

Among the key supporters of the competition were: Richard Gallatin of Alexandria, Virginia who opened his official Avanti website to post contest announcements and rules. Jeffrey Leestma, President of the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, who availed the Avanti Committee of what has been described as the "Cooperstown" of auto industry giants.

Rex Roy, photo-journalist, AOL Auto correspondent and author of "Motor City Dream Garages", signed on to serve as Master of Ceremonies of the awards event. Mike Baker, President of the Avanti Owners Association (AOAI), joined Rex at the podium as Co-Host. Previously, Mike had rallied his fellow Avantists to the cause of the contest by recruiting club members to attend the seminal festivities and to bring their beloved Avantis. Paul Miller trailered his showroom-restored white R-2 all the way from Valparaiso, Indiana into the atrium of the Hall of Fame, where it reposed proudly for the entire ceremonies and the preceding day. Mike himself unleashed one of his fleet of four, a black Avanti II, to provide transportation from Greenfield, Indiana for him and his nephew Kyle. Lewis Schucart, Editor of the Avanti Magazine, also added his presence and eloquent literary voice. Other contributors were WWJ and WJR, among the area's most powerful radio signals, who carried the Avanti Awards on their Community Calendars for a full month and a half through contest deadline to final ceremonies.

Florin Blebea watches as automotive designer, Tom Peters, examines some of his winning entries.
Rachel Gac, Hostess and Event Coordinator, at the podium with Lewis Schucart, Editor of the Avanti Magazine.

Perhaps the most influential supporter of the Avanti Awards was General Motors, whose Design and Communications Departments played vital roles. Tom Peters, Head Designer on the current-generation Corvette, the Cadillac XLR Roadster and the 2010 Camaro, provided the passionate, design-driven narrative to the compelling multi-media presentation: "The Genesis of the Neo Camaro". GM's Annalisa Bluhm ably handled the controls on their slide and video show.
      
The true stars of the evening, of course, were the stellar student designers. The level of design entries was remarkable, with the three trophy winners distancing a strong field of competitors. The trio of top student designers were: Evan Pipta of Henry Ford Academy who received the first Avanti Summa Cum Laude Award and black Avanti trophy from Lewis Schucart; Florin Blebea of Dakota High School who accepted the other Avanti Summa Cum Laude Award and silver Camaro trophy from the car's designer Tom Peters; Colin Bonathan of Catholic Central High School who received the Avanti Magna Cum Laude Award and silver Dodge Challenger trophy from television journalist Marc Santia of WDIV, Detroit's NBC-affiliate.
        
The Avanti Awards ceremony was watched by an overflow live audience in the Hall of Fame's intimate theater and, on closed-circuit, in the Hall's capacious atrium. Virtually everyone stayed for the Afterglow, including Mr. Peters who autographed design entries and even sketched a few of his own for awed student designers. Watching the entire event with radiant pride was Patricia Emery, longtime associate of Joseph Douglas Earl whose legacy as a Ford Management Supervisor the contest honored. Ms. Emery underwrote both the design competition and the awards ceremonies.
          
Planning is already in the works for the second Avanti Awards Design Competition. One scenario has both a national and an international component. Two other sets of Avanti Awards have existed: since 1971, the South African equivalent to the American TV Emmy's, and another since 1994, in bio-research. And yet, as of ceremony night, the Stellar Scholars Avanti Awards for High School Car Design, only months from its inception, ranked No. 1 out of 1,130,000 Yahoo entries. In the course of the contest and those visits from cyberspace, perhaps a few college majors and even some future professional careers have been influenced.
      
People are finding out about the Avanti Awards and, as significantly, the car that more than any other signaled the shape of automotive design for nearly the last half-century: the timeless, the original Studebaker Avanti. All Photography by Philip Dattilo.