ADC 88th Annual Awards Gala Set For April 30

The Art Directors Club will announce this year’s award winners at the ADC 88th Annual Awards Gala on Thursday evening, April 30, 2009 at the ADC Gallery in New York.

Winners in the Advertising, Design, Interactive, ADC Design Sphere and ADC Hybrid categories will be revealed and celebrated on this festive night at the home of Madison Avenue.  In addition, a pair of new ADC Annual Awards elements will be debuted this year: the potential for an ADC Black Cube for best-in-show in a category, and naming of Agency, Design Firm, Interactive Agency and Network of the Year, based on cumulative scores. 

The night also includes presentation of the 55th ADC Vision Award for the company or individual whose work embodies the ADC mission to connect in new and exciting ways, provoke the industry, address important issues and present breakthrough ideas, and the Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award, which includes a cash award to a pro bono organization and scholarship for student winners.

Jury chairs react
For an advanced look at the state of this year’s awards entries, two of this year’s jury chairmen come straight off a rigorous ADC judging process to give their thoughts about what they saw, what they liked and, notably, what they disliked.

David Nobay, creative chairman, droga5 Australia in Sydney, chair of this year’s ADC Advertising jury:

On innovation, creativity

“Fundamentally, what excites the jury most is work that has a real depth to it: momentum, connection into the popular culture and multiple moving parts.  Clearly, this year, for a lot of big clients faced with recession, I guess that all sounds like too much hard work.  Sadly, there was a marked absence of really big, wide, unconventional campaigns on offer.  That said, as always, the best rose up in the crowd and was duly rewarded.”

“Great radio is, as it always has been, as rare as hen’s teeth.”

Steff Geissbuhler, partner, C&G Partners LLC, New York, chair of this year’s ADC Design Sphere jury:

Awards for both design firm and client

“The ADC Design Sphere category celebrates the long range relationship and loyalty between a single client and a single design firm over a period of years, and the work which results from this teamwork.  I believe the most important decision we made during this year’s jury process is to reward both the design firm and the client with an equal award.”

Sustained excellence

“Whether it is a really well conceived identity program, which has been maintained with a consistent high level of quality and is played out over years with a certain attitude and flair, or work which is constantly reinventing itself and interpreting the brand in a fresh and new way…our winners are perfect examples of both.” 

“We all know how such longevity with a client can produce an outstanding body of work which isn’t just based on a single idea or campaign, but builds a visual vocabulary which is unique, recognizable and gains as it grows.”

ADC 88th Annual Award Gala schedule is as follows: cocktails from 7:00-8:00 pm, Awards show 8:00-9:00 pm, dinner and drinks 9:45-10:30 pm.  For tickets, please visit http://www.adcglobal.org/store/?c=6

ADC Board member and Annual Awards Gala committee chair David Angelo, COO, David&Goliath, together with NY-based Daniel Blank, creative director at BureauBlank, and their respective agency teams collaborated on this year’s Gala theme honoring “sustainable creativity” for work that’s relevant today, yesterday and in the future.