“BUT THEY ALWAYS WIN!”

The problem with awards and awards competitions is that there’s the inevitable win or lose factor. Our annual ADDY awards are no different. And when you’re trying to maintain a mission of building up our incredible creative community, it’s hard to make everyone happy. But if you count yourself among those who feel the awards are ripe for domination by any one party, hear us out on the bigger picture.

Entering the ADDYs also means exposure. When was the last time a large sampling of your colleagues and creative mentors were all in the same room together? We work hard to make sure event attendees have plenty of time to see the complete gallery of entrants. Think about the amount of time you spend posting, e-mailing, or otherwise promoting your work. Now factor in all of that time plus your resources vs. the expense of an ADDY entry where you can guarantee your work will be seen by those who matter to you. Would you rather just mingle with people or have something to show them while you’re catching up?

Granted, nobody should base their creative goals solely on winning an ADDY, but because you can never handicap your kind of talent or even the judging, you should never NOT try. An event like this should also incite friendly competition and dare we say, inspiration. In a market like ours, when has it ever paid to be divisive?

In addition to the usual ADDY book we publish post ceremony, this year, a microsite will go live after the initial judging showcasing all entrants. This means your entries will live well beyond the night of the show, “win” or “lose.”

We’ve got a simple ADDY mantra of “Don’t just do good work, do extraordinary work.” We all know what it feels like to become attached to an idea, or a sketch, and then a final product. Why not take a final step to see what other professionals think beyond the client and the market itself?

T.C. Pellett, RAF V.P., 1-19-12