Where's the harm in a little competition?

Some creative competitions are the result of a leftover media spend of incorporable campaigns aimed at you, others are straight forward businesses, some genuinely try to break through and raise standards. Exposure is the thrust and legitimising stamp of goodwill: By entering you will be guaranteed that X will judge your work, Y many will see your work and Z many will win fame , acclaim and a tasty cash prize.

What's so bad?

We often promote competitions on the Designers are wankers site, we've even held a couple. I just get a nagging feeling that competitions buy into a lazy thinking, get rich quick scheme. From the companies that dream them up, the companies that buy into the dream in order to promote their products and the punters that enter.




DISCUSS... What's your view?



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2 comments:

  1. I know a few people on my course who enter competitions for the fame and money. They don't even throw themselves into it and really try, creating something pretty lame and then wonder why they don't win!

    Some really great ideas and work come out of entering a competition. It sometimes gives a person focus. But it can be crushing when time and time again you don't win.

    I bet there is a lot of good work that gets pushed by the wayside and then forgotten about. I entered the D&AD and if you don't win you have to go to London to pick your entry up. Something I'm sure not many people can manage, especially if you're an overseas entrant. Where do these entries end up? In the bin?

    Somewhere behind the D&AD building is a skip full of ideas. Maybe they just need a bit of honing, a bit of care and they could be truly wonderful things.

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