Preparing your entries
Photographs
In all the sign making categories, the judges will first of all be looking at the visual impact made by the sign and it is therefore vitally important that the illustrations and photographs submitted with entries are of the highest standard possible.
Signs are first and foremost a visual medium so it is perfectly natural that the first thing the judges look at are the pictures.
In previous years, entries that could possibly have won an award failed to do so simply because the pictures submitted did not do the work justice.
Our advice to potential entrants is, where budgets allow, to invest in the services of a professional photographer. If this isn’t possible use a good quality digital camera and take lots of pictures from every angle you can think of and then study the results carefully before selecting the ones you submit.
The awards carry a great deal of prestige and winning one can give a sign business a great marketing advantage. If you are serious about winning, you need to make an effort to submit top quality pictures.
Blind Judging
Potential entrants should note is that all the judging is “blind” – i.e, the judging panel is not allowed to know who has submitted any entry until the final decision is made.
This is the fairest way to judge a competition of this nature and to make sure this happens the organisers carefully remove any reference to the entrant’s identity from all submitted materials before it is seen by the judges.
Some entrants go to tremendous lengths to prepare and submit superb graphic presentations – but these will not seen by any judge until after the decision is made.
What else is important
The judges need to understand the scope and size of the project; information about materials used; and any innovations or traditional skills employed. Entrants can also, if they wish, provide details of the budgets involved – it always impresses if you’ve created something special while working to a restricted budget.
The best and quickest way to submit this in formation is in written form on plain white paper.”
Business of the Year
A separate judging panel – made up of business and financial experts – will decide which company should receive the Sign Business of the Year Award.
The category is designed to recognise business achievement across a number of criteria including financial success, growth, innovation, marketing, quality, the environment, customer service and staff development etc.
Great strides forward in one or two of these areas may be enough to impress the panel or you may base your entry on overall performance.
All information supplied will treated with the strictest confidence and will be seen only by the members of the organisers and the judging panel.
