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As the deadline draws near for the Communication Arts Interactive Competition, I find myself thinking about the validity of design competitions. What purpose do they serve?
Words like annual, prestigious, international, and the like are used to entice designers of all types to enter contests that are likely only seen by other designers. I would be interested to see how many of the contest winners actually get new jobs because someone saw them in an "Annual Best of" issue of "You name it" Design Magazine. I would argue that there would be less than 5% of that would say they got new business strictly because a client saw them in a magazine where they won an award. Why do we enter, then? is it to gain some level of recognition among our peers? Is is so we can add the accolade to our marketing material and websites? Is it for personal gratification? How about for the prizes? Nope. There are usually no prizes. In fact, you must pay a fee to be considered. Sounds like advertising to me, not a contest. I guess paying $100 for the possibility of getting an inexpensive ad, er, uh, contest entry might be worth it to some. But if only other designers see it, have you missed your target audience? In any case, if contests are your thing, head on over to the Communication Arts website and enter your work in the competition. |
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