Branding

The year’s best-designed graphic identities for corporations, organizations, institutions and individuals are honored in this competition. Jurors will evaluate each entry’s overall quality of visual expression; they will also assess the design’s appropriateness relative to the entity for which it was created. Entries for new, repositioned or legacy brands are eligible.

Entries may include graphic identities for:

corporations

organizations

institutions

individuals

Submit logos printed in color on an 8 1/2-x 11-inch sheet and mounted on one-ply white board, with the objective noted on the lower-right corner (e.g., “identity for bakery,” “identity for record label”).

For stationery systems, include one each of letterhead, business card and envelope, unmounted (a complete system counts as one entry).

All other applications may be entered in original form (identity guidelines manuals, advertising, etc.). Environmental systems, vehicles, etc., should be submitted as as unmounted prints.

If you are submitting a website that will be publicly available online at the time the entries are judged, please include the URL as well as 4 to 6 images from the project as letter-size color printouts. If the URL will not be active, a site may be submitted on CDs or DVDs. All digital media entries submitted on disk should be self-contained applications or launch within an offline browser.

Please label all disks and videotapes with your name and telephone number.

Entertaining

The year’s best works designed to amuse an audience are honored in this juried competition. It’s not about work done for the entertainment industry, but pieces designed for the purpose of entertaining—they do not sell, brand or promote anything in particular.

Entries may include:

animations

short films

websites

games (digital or artifacts)

music videos and real-time experiences that are viewed on television, in the cinema, on mobile devices or on a computer

3-D artifacts (i.e., games, books)

Both individual and series entries can be submitted.

If you are submitting a website that will be publicly available online at the time the entries are judged, please include the URL as well as 4 to 6 images from the project as letter-size color printouts. If the URL will not be active, a site may be submitted on CDs or DVDs. All digital media entries submitted on disk should be self-contained applications or launch within an offline browser.

Please label all disks and videotapes with your name and telephone number.

Television and online advertising should not be submitted to this category (see Promoting). Likewise, film titles belong in the Branding category.

Live action and feature films are not eligible.

Experimenting

This category is distinct from all the others—perhaps the only client involved was yourself. It’s about personal expression; your idea is the genesis of the piece. A successful “Experimental” piece would have a viral, word-of-mouth quality to it, enabling and creating a community. Its driving force would be the desire to engage the audience/user at an emotional level and provide some level of surprise or pleasure. Jurors will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including typography and other visual elements, information design and/or sound and motion, and its effectiveness.

Entries may include:

animations

short films

websites

games (digital or artifacts)

music videos and real-time experiences that are viewed on television, in the cinema, on mobile devices or on a computer

3-D artifacts (i.e., games, books)

Both individual and series entries can be submitted.

If you are submitting a website that will be publicly available online at the time the entries are judged, please include the URL as well as 4 to 6 images from the project as letter-size color printouts. If the URL will not be active, a site may be submitted on CDs or DVDs. All digital media entries submitted on disk should be self-contained applications or launch within an offline browser.

Please label all disks and videotapes with your name and telephone number.

Live action and feature films are not eligible.

Informing

Excellence in works designed to display information clearly is honored in this category. Such works may deal with the presentation of quantitative information, data or spatial information; they may also be explanations of process dynamics, mechanisms in motion or cause/effect, signage, etc. Jurors for this category will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including concept and visual elements such as typography and illustration. Jurors will also consider how well an entry fulfills its stated communications objectives.

Entries may include:

charts

maps

graphs

schedules

forms

specification

catalogues

exhibitions

way-finding systems

themed environments

trade-show exhibits

retail spaces

sports facilities and special-event atmospherics that demonstrate the use of design elements to make the complex clear.

Pieces may be entered individually or as a series.

If you prefer a piece to be evaluated only in the context of a larger work (such as a book, tear sheet or environmental series), please enter the entire work. Remember, a work may be entered separately in all of the categories for which it qualifies (separate entry fees and submission requirements apply).

Submit actual samples up to 40 inches.

Entries larger than 40 inches may be submitted as good quality 11- x 17-inch printouts.

Signage and environments may be submitted as QuickTime video on CD or DVD, especially if the project involves moving or electronic components. Photographs are acceptable and should be mounted on one-ply board.

All digital media entries submitted on disk should be self-contained applications or launch within an offline browser.

Please label all disks and videotapes with your name and telephone number.

Packaging

This category awards the year’s best-designed and redesigned consumer packaging, labels, shopping bags, single or boxed music CDs, DVDs and software packaging and gift or specialty products. Pieces may be entered individually or as a series. Jurors for this category will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including concept and visual elements such as typography and illustration. Jurors will also look for quality and innovation in the use of materials, and will also consider how well an entry fulfills its stated communications objectives.

Entries may include:

consumer packaging

label

shopping bags

single or boxed music CDs

DVDs and software packaging

gift or specialty products.

Packaging (including videos and music CDs) must always be submitted as actual pieces, even if oversized.

Photographs will not be accepted under any circumstances.

If you have concerns about shipping alcoholic beverages, you can replace the contents with colored water or send empty containers.

Promoting

This category recognizes excellence in works designed to introduce, sell or promote products, ideas or events. Jurors for this category will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including concept and visual elements such as typography, illustration, photography and/or information design. Jurors will also consider how well an entry fulfills its stated communications objectives.

Entries may include:

print and television advertisements

interactive website banners or animations

giveaways

posters

invitations

anouncements

direct mail, an

guerrilla/unconventional advertising

Pieces may be entered individually or as a series

Submit actual samples.

Submit magazine and newspaper advertisements as complete tear sheets, unmounted and trimmed, as they originally appeared.

For posters, always submit the actual piece.

If you are submitting a website that will be publicly available online at the time the entries are judged, please include the URL as well as 4 to 6 images from the project as letter-size color printouts. If the URL will not be active, a site may be submitted on CDs or DVDs. All digital media entries submitted on disk should be self-contained applications or launch within an offline browser.

Please label all disks and videotapes with your name and telephone number.

Books/Bookcovers

Jurors for this competition will evaluate each work’s integrated design approach, including concept, innovation and visual elements such as typography, illustration and/or information design.

Entries may include:

Literature and nonfiction (books you read)

Text-driven books including fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

Image-driven books (books you look at)

Architecture, design and photography titles.

Limited-edition and fine-press books (books that are objects)

Collectors’ editions, fine editions and books whose quality of production, innovation or experimentation is of paramount importance. Limited-edition books must be numbered.

Instructional books and textbooks (books that teach)

How-to books, cookbooks, craft and hobby books, and books used for instruction in schools-from elementary and high school texts to college, technical, and vocational titles.

Reference books (books you consult)

Encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries and guides.

Children’s books

Books published primarily for young audiences, not including textbooks.

Eligibility

A book must consist of at least 48 pages (except for children’s books).

A book must be either case-bound or paperbound between covers. Portfolios of loose pages do not qualify.

Books and book covers designed and/or produced between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year are eligible.

Except in the case of limited-edition books, print runs should be in excess of 250 copies.

Entries should be for sale to the general public, or, if offered gratis, should not be publications whose primary purpose is to advertise or serve as an annual report or other corporate literature.

Submit only actual work; no photographs accepted.

Student Work

These pieces must be produced by junior- and senior-level students enrolled in a college or university design program. Entries may consist of any type of medium. Student entries are eligible to be judged in all categories, but for multiple considerations, separate entry fees will apply.