Note: Deadline Extension - AGDA National Awards 2004

Welcome to the journey.......

Brought to you by Aquent

On behalf of the Awards Committee, Simon Pemberton, as Awards Chair, welcomes in the 2004 AGDA Awards program with the introduction of two new features to the Awards categories:

1. Promotion to the creative industry - a new awards category.

"Our journey's history can be traced back to 1992 when Melbourne hosted the inaugural Awards. It continues for us with our return from hosting the awards ten years ago to hosting them again this year. Our mission, which we rashly decided to accept before the tape destructed, is to make these awards as inclusive as possible," stated Simon.

"Because AGDA is of its people and for its people, by its very nature, it tends to spend a lot of its time and effort being inwardly focussed and perhaps inevitably self-congratulatory with its accolades. Whilst there may be nothing wrong with this in principle, the reality is that as designers we spend most of our time looking outwards. We are inextricably linked to our clients, their clients and the wider public."

On that basis, the opportunity has been taken to add this new industry specific category. "The thinking behind all this is equal opportunity," said Simon. "We want the awards to be a celebration of everything we do well and not just how well we do it for ourselves. We want the awards to inspire and inform our industry and beyond."

This category includes any work where the client's target aucience is generally associated with any of the major desing or creative disciplines (eg. graphic design, multimedia design, advertising, architecture, interior design, fashion, illustration, photography etc).

2. The inaugural Design Effectiveness Awards category

This new category provides the opportunity to demonstrate that good design work not only looks great but also delivers. It doesn't matter whether the work increased sales, consumer awareness or changed perceptions, design isn't simply about the way things look, it's all about making a difference. Demonstrating that at the end of the day good design is good business - "it's measurable and it's very real," states Simon.

Entered jointly by designers and their clients, the Design Effectiveness Awards reward outstanding examples of commercially successful design.

They will be judged by senior people from both sides of the industry and from a broad range of sectors in which design operates. Winning an Award will be proof that design can deliver great value to a business, that commitment to design is a strategic tool for success.

The judges will be looking for evidence that

• The targets set in the original brief and the results were demonstrably achieved.
• There is proof beyond reasonable doubt of a cause and effect between the design solution and the results.
• The project's success is linked to a measured fact rather than an assumption.
  

As Simon says. "Win an award in this category and wherever your journey may take you in the future, you and your client will know you've already arrived."

The journey continues.......

Typography, digital media, motion graphics and special recognition awards were introduced in 2002 and continue to be important categories, together with corporate identity, publications, annual reports, books, packaging, posters, editorial, illustration, photography, environmental design, self promotion and miscellaneous.

Please direct our friends and colleagues in photography, illustration, new media, film, television and publishing, members and non-members alike, to this industry's biennial opportunity to recognise and celebrate excellence in design creativity and design effectiveness.

For any Awards inquiries, contact Rita Siow:
T: +61-8-8204-0949
E: gm@agda.com.au

See you at the next stop!