A team of Saint Louis University student advertisers defeated 10 other schools from Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska to take home their first-ever first place last weekend in a competition that has been dubbed "The College World Series of Advertising."

The "SLUtions" team made their sales pitch, entitled, "Yahoo! Get Curious," at the ninth district conference of the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition, held in Dubuque, Iowa, and took home first place. While SLU's team has won awards seven out of the last 10 years, this is the first time where the team has come home with a first. The team will move on to the national competition in Nashville, Tenn., on June 4.

The team is comprised of students who take a class specifically for the AAF competition. The course, offered by the department of communication, is taught by William Tyler, who also serves as the "SLUtions" adviser.

Tyler said that the experience the team has had in putting together and presenting the marketing campaign will give them an edge when they move into the professional world.

"Win or lose, they take these books to interviews," he said. "[The experience] shows they understand the business." He added, "It also builds up confidence. It's a culmination of everything they've been learning."

"The competition is the closest thing I've ever experienced to a real-life job," said Georganne Crifasi, who was one of the presenters. She was joined by advertising club president Veronica Forche and Lauren Halfaker, Matt Roeser and Kristen Graham.

Tyler, who has been the adviser for 12 years, said that the most rewarding part of the process is "watching them work together and reach a consensus. They become a unit…like a little fraternity."

For a few of the students who presented, winning for Tyler seemed to be the consensus.

"We couldn't have done it without him," said Roeser. "He was always there to give us good ideas. He was there to encourage."

Forche said that when the campaign started coming together, the team decided that they wanted to win for Tyler , due to all the years he has put in.

"SLU's always come in second, [we] really wanted to win," Roeser said.

The annual competition selects a different national organization each year that teams are assigned to represent. Past organizations have included The New York Time, Toyota and Kodak. This year, the product was "Yahoo! The Life Engine."

The competition is rigorous. The teams must prepare a 32-page booklet that details the team's marketing plan. The team must then present in front of a five-judge panel and an audience of students from other schools. All of the funds the team used for the competition came from fundraising by the advertising club and funding from the Student Government Association.

"We beg a lot," Tyler said. "They did a hell of a job…in spite of a smaller budget."

As the team prepares to head to Nashville, Tyler said he's "not nervous, but excited." He said that the team can get nervous, as long as they stick together and stay focused.

"It's okay to have butterflies as long as you get them flying in formation," he said.

Crifasi, Forchee and Roeser all described themselves as "excited" for nationals.