Why Award Shows Matter
Before Monday and Tuesday, I had a decent amount of knowledge about award shows. Of course, I heard about the One Show and even submitted work for D&AD this year. However, there was always a voice in the back of my mind saying, “Why do these really matter?” My biggest mission is to make an impact on the lives of consumers and brands by building honest and rewarding relationships between the two, and I don’t think that we necessarily need to win awards to do that. Plus, awards shows come with other cons such as being expensive and not showing the complete spectrum of great work that’s being done in the industry. However, at an awards show and Advertising Week panel on Monday, a group of women from the industry changed my mind. Here are 3 reasons why award shows matter for our industry and creatives/thinkers (besides making people famous):
1. Award shows allow us to examine the history of the industry and agencies/brands. If you pick up a copy of the One Show Awards book (or any other award catalog/book) from years ago, you’ll get a good idea of what art, culture, and the economy looked like then. You might see that modern serif fonts were huge in designs, or that bright, busy patterns were used a lot. You can also see how advertising has changed throughout the years. While we still have strides to make, the industry has definitely become more diverse than it was 50 years ago and that’s reflected in work throughout the years.
2. They remind creatives to go back to the big idea… but also continue honing their craft. When talking to Erin, Lucy, Gina, and Ally about the ANDY’s, they noted that length of a spot is irrelevant if you have a good story to tell and that reminded me that our key role as storytellers is to entertain our audiences with a great idea. Instead of worrying about the numbers that a campaign needs to impact, competitors in student award shows can focus on simply entertaining the judges with a great big idea. In addition, after watching the Young Ones award show, I was reminded how much the craft of typography, colors, animation, and other skills really matter in our industry.
3. It’s a moment for education, for everyone. Award shows train creative students to be great judges of their work and the work of others. This happens almost naturally throughout the process of evaluating work and simplifying it before submitting it. Even if students don’t move on to become judges or mentors one day, they’ll use that experience in their own careers. In addition, judges learn from award shows. When they critique submissions, they learn how to further recognize good work, how young creative minds think, and how the industry is changing. During the award shows panel, a few women agreed that some of the best learning takes place in the room of judges when critiquing work.
All of this said, it looks like the award show critique process is slowly becoming more transparent. In the ANDY’s, judges critique work via Facebook live so that all students have access to getting feedback on their work and learning more about what makes great work. I think it will be healthy for the industry if we continue down this path and allow critiques to be more transparent so that students and professionals can grow together.
Emily Foster
5.12.18