The winners of the 2023 Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship have been announced! The annual competition challenges contestants from around the world to prove their superior digital design skills using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Now in its 10th year, this year’s competition attracted more than 53,000 participants. Kayla Crossen-Zawila from the USA won the top prize out of 44 finalists who came together from July 31 – August 2, 2023 for the final round.

The 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Champions are as follows:

• First place, Kayla Crossen-Zawila, USA
• Second place, Boris Savov, Bulgaria
• Third place, Egberto Oliveira, Brazil
• Fourth place, Mariam Baghaturia, Georgia
• Fifth place, Marco Antonio Arguello Jarrin, Ecuador
• Sixth place, Andrew Jarnac, USA
• Seventh place, Muhammad Abal Hakim Bin Abal Mukam, Malaysia
• Eighth place, Minh Tra Bui, Vietnam
• Ninth place, Alexia Borcoman, United Kingdom
• Tenth place, Sio Kuan Lei, Macau, China

Finalists demonstrated their proficiency using industry-leading Adobe Creative Cloud software to design a poster for a real-world client, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in less than eight hours.

“At the IRC, we were thrilled to partner with Certiport and Adobe for Certiport’s 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Championship. This event has given us an opportunity to engage young people in our mission to help people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. We were really impressed by the professional level work these students accomplished in just eight hours and can’t wait to use them as inspiration for future campaigns,” said Vera Leung, Senior Director of Content & Creative, International Rescue Committee.

A panel of judges including representatives from IRC and design industry experts reviewed the final projects and determined the winners based on visual appeal, their ability to meet the client’s requirements and brand aesthetics, as well as their professional use of Adobe Creative Cloud applications. The First-place winner received an $8,000 cash prize. The Second-place and Third-place honorees received $4,000 and $2,000, respectively.

“Together with our partner, Adobe, we are exceptionally proud of the opportunities we have managed to provide to all the contestants and winners over the last decade. Through this unique platform we have and will continue to provide young people with a chance to learn, compete, and gain valuable skills that will help them in their future careers,” said Craig Bushman, General Manager, Certiport. “Seeing what these finalists are able to create in just eight hours, it’s apparent that they have a deep understanding of digital design concepts and will be able to leverage their Adobe skills in a real-world work scenario.”

“At Adobe, we know the future belongs to those who create. Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship is a wonderful opportunity for students from around the world to come together to create using Adobe Creative Cloud,” said Liana Maharaj-Parrish, Head of Student Learning and Certification, Adobe. “These students have technical mastery and wonderful artistic instincts, and it shows in their final designs. They can follow client instructions and use both their innate design abilities and the Adobe skills they’ve learned to create something amazing and industry-ready. We can’t wait to see where our competitors take their skills next.”

Next year, Certiport will host the 2024 Adobe Certified Professional World Championship in Anaheim, California, from July 28 through 31.