Two student-journalists from the Benildean Press Corps (BPC), the official student-journalists’ organization of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), earned international recognition with a Crystal Award at Young Stars 2025, the collegiate division of MAD STARS 2025, to develop fresh ideas within 30 hours, on Aug. 26 to 29 at Signiel Busan, South Korea.

Leading the charge for Benilde, Villamonte Visuals, composed of Multimedia Arts (AB-MMA) students Claire Denise Chua and Yohanna Elyse Mendoza, clinched the award, marking the first time a Filipino team has earned the honor since 2021. They were joined by fellow finalists Team Espina represented by Architecture student Keith Daniel Espina, who is now BPC’s Associate Editor for Print, and Little Green Man by Diplomacy and International Affairs (AB-DIA) student Christian Kiel Mananquil, who serves as BPC’s Ablaze Editor.

The competition, held in partnership with the Korea Health Promotion Institute and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, challenged the finalists to develop campaign ideas or solutions to increase the awareness of the health and social risks of smoking and vaping among young adults through either the expansion of Korea’s NoDam and JeonDam campaign or innovative solutions or branding. 

The Executive Jury for Young Stars 2025 was Livio Grossi, the Group Executive Creative Director for Dentsu Creative Vietnam and Dentsu Redder. His work with Bitis Hunter elevated the brand from mainstream advertising to culturally resonant storytelling.

In an exclusive interview with The Benildean, Chua, a BPC Layout Staffer, shared their concept.

“[The campaign named] “Smoke and Mirrors” aims to highlight the damages that e-cigarettes cause in a manner that would cater to the given communication target—the youth. We angled the campaign to appeal to Korea’s “photopress culture" through a photobooth installation—which appears as an e-cigarette,” she said.

Chua explained that after people enter the booth, “a harsh reality check would then greet them as they use the booth, with their reflections being visually altered with AI to show the harmful physical effects from e-cigarettes. The print-outs from the booth would then include the campaign title along with unaltered photos, to show that users have cleared the proverbial smoke and mirrors of e-cigarettes.” 

Mendoza, who is now serving her second year as BPC’s Creative Director, described their approach as both familiar and experimental. “There’s nothing particularly new about the message we wanted to convey—we just delivered it in a way that was out of the ordinary. It’s not like you see people addressing social issues using photobooths all that often.”

The team also reflected on the role of Artificial Intelligence such as ChatGPT, as it is required to use them in the competition. “There was a lot of hesitation. Being art students ourselves, we’re very aware of how harmful AI can be to the creative industry. Even while working on our pitch, we [still] ended up manually doing a lot of things AI could’ve done for us out of sheer principle. But there’s a nuance to using AI, and I think that’s what this year’s Young Stars was trying to teach us,” Mendoza stated.

For these young artists, the Crystal Award was not only a personal victory but also a milestone for both the Student Publications Unit (SPU), the office that oversees BPC, and the College. 

“I’m immensely grateful to SPU and Benilde for this opportunity. Never would I have ever imagined to have the College’s full support in this endeavor, and much less did I expect that we’d be able to pay it back with a Crystal Award,” she emphasized.

Mendoza also reflected by saying, “Knowing that very few Filipinos have been granted this recognition in Young Stars, I hope this award not only serves as a reminder of Benildean excellence, but also becomes an inspiration for young Filipino creatives to keep pushing boundaries and prove that our ideas are worth being given a spotlight on the global stage.”

Alongside Villamonte Visuals, the Young Stars 2025 MAD Competition also recognized other standout entries: 

• Gold: Tsumasaki kara Production — Yuto Wakabayashi, Open University of Japan 
• Silver: Kawurian — Sayid Muhammad Usammah Alhabsyie, Universitas Indonesia, and Aeriell Handjaja, Universitas Bina Nusantara 
• Bronze: PJ — Junsung Shin, Hongik University 
• Crystal: PB&Jo — Joween Lim Xin Tong and Chiew Jiaqi Bertina, Nanyang Technological University 
• Crystal: PDNZ — Takuma Oguchi, Toyama University

Young Stars MAD Competition is an international marketing and advertising competition aimed at supporting emerging future creatives around the world. MAD Stars 2026 is slated for Aug. 26 to 28, 2026.