The 29th ADCE Awards – online, fees reduced by 50%

The 29th edition of the ADCE Best of European Design and Advertising Awards will mainly take place online. Only a few categories of Graphic Design might be judged physically at DHUB Barcelona, as in previous editions, if the Covid-19 situation allows it. The organization has reduced entry fees a 50% to encourage the participation of as many local winners as possible and avoid stressing the agencies and studios’ economic situation.

In times of changes and difficulties, creativity is more vital than ever. Despite these Covid-19 unprecedented circumstances, ADCE still calls for celebrating the best works achieved across Europe over the year and maintains the yearly contest it started in 1990. The ADCE Awards is the only award scheme to bring together the best of European award-winning work under one competition. Participation in the ADCE Awards is exclusively granted to works that have been recognized at a national level, offering them international visibility and promotion.

The final registration deadline to submit works is November 13th, except for ADG Laus winners, who will be able to register their work past this date. Winners will be announced on Thursday, December 17th, after a prestigious international jury made up of leading creatives and designers from several European countries will meet online from December 11th to 15th to deliberate upon this year’s award winners.

“This special edition of the ADCE Awards includes new categories that reflect local clubs needs and respond to communication and creativity changes,” explains Susana Albuquerque, President of Clube Criativos Portugal and ADCE Awards Commission and Board Member.

The new categories give more space for craft, both in advertising (film, music, animation, photography, and illustration) and design (drawing, photography, typography, data visualization, and digital service experience). Promotions and new media have been renamed as brand experiences, and they now include promotions, brand activation, and PR. Also Integration and Innovation includes now branded content and the best use of data.

Work will be then judged across eight categories: Film & Audio, Print & Outdoor, Interactive & Mobile, Design, Brand Experience, Integrated and Innovation, and European Student of the Year and European Young Creative to celebrate young talent.

The new ADCE “Genius Loci” Award has been created to celebrate the values of Europe’s diverse local cultures. It rewards creative excellence with the power to reveal a European location’s distinctive atmosphere, the spirit of a particular place within the exceptionally rich European cultural heritage. It should stand out across all ADCE categories and can come from any category in show. “The Genius Loci Award was created to award the best in show regarding the local spirit. We hope we can show here great local ideas which were not created to be global,” states Albuquerque.

Similarly, the European Star Award was created last year and still looks for ideas that reflect European values such as diversity and inclusion, environment and sustainability, freedom, justice and the promotion of peace.

Both awards should stand out across all ADCE categories and can come from any category. They can be commercially driven or done for good, they should have had a real impact on society, and they must be comprehensible throughout Europe.

ADCE passionately believes that only if we are a diverse, connected and collaborative European creative community, we will solve complex problems. ADCE is the platform where the creative community unites to interact and foster, explore, celebrate and promote creativity as a multi-solution approach. ADCE educates, inspires and exchanges knowledge and experience by leveraging the diversity of European creativity.

The Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) is a non-profit association headquartered in Barcelona. It comprises 23 professional clubs and associations of graphic design and advertising from 22 European countries: Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ukraine.
Founded in 1990, the ADCE strives to foster excellence in graphic design and advertising creativity at a European scale. The association represents more than 5,000 professionals from the field and gives visibility to the best works accomplished locally. The current president is Ami Hasan, founder, chairman and creative director of hasan & partners.