New York Festivals announces advertising award presentations in China, India and The Philippines

For the first time in its history, the 2009 New York Festivals (NYF) Advertising Awards will host a series of award ceremonies and speaker series around the world enabling many people the opportunity to see the World’s Best Advertising™ closer to their home. Awards presentations will be held in Chile, China, India, Philippines, Spain and the USA along with a THINKBIG™ Speaker Series about Digital, Interactive, Avant-garde and Social Medias. All award winners will be invited to attend the international award ceremonies taking place in their region.

“In light of the global economic climate, NYF eliminated the need to incur additional debt by travelling to New York City to accept an award.  Repositioning the awards gala to a series of international ceremonies, combined with the THINKBIG™ Speaker Series closer to home is a prudent decision at a time when so many companies are experiencing losses, job cutbacks and travel embargos. It’s a decision that makes economic and common sense.  We simply want to make sure the industry can still get together to celebrate great work,” said New York Festivals President, Michael O’Rourke.

The 2009 Award winners, as well as members of the Grand Jury™ will be promoted by NYF’s international representatives via regional award ceremonies and screenings. The winners will also be showcased by a variety of strategic global content partners including China’s iPTV and exclusive partnerships with 5 major international airlines in-flight programs. These and other partnerships allow the award winning work to be viewed by tens of millions of people generating tens of millions of dollars of free media for the advertisers, their ad agencies and specifically, the creative people. “Without the creatives, there would not be any award winning work,” said Mr. O’Rourke.

The 2009 NYF Advertising competition received entries from 71 countries in the following eleven competitions:  Art & Technique, Avant-Garde, Collateral, Design, Digital/Interactive, Mixed Media, Outdoor, Print, TV/Cinema, Radio and Student. In spite of the global economic crisis, entries for Avant-Garde, Digital and Interactive were up a whopping 61%, while entries in Print, Outdoor and TV continued to suffer by falling 23%. NYF also had 132 new companies and 6 new countries participating in this year’s competition.

Winners were selected by the NYF International Grand Jury™ comprised of 246 Senior Creative Directors from 48 countries, representing the most innovative, diverse and creative minds in the wide world of advertising and marketing.  

Finalists for this year’s competition will be announced the third week in May. All winning entries of the NYF International Advertising Competition will be featured in the Showcase section of the website. Additional award winning work, along with interviews with creatives, can be seen here.