The Australasian Writers and Art Directors
Association (AWARD) will increase its presence at the annual Semi
Permanent festival of creativity and design from May 2016, in a
collaboration that will introduce an annual AWARD showcase to the
three-day event and host the annual AWARD Awards ceremony as a new focal
point of the festival.
Says Wilf Sweetland, AWARD chair: "Over the past
two years AWARD has begun to build a presence at Semi Permanent,
delivering sessions on the future of creativity in 2015, and tackling
the gender gap in our industry in 2014. We recognised Semi Permanent to
be an important like minded partner, and the perfect platform for
raising awareness of the best of our industry among a broad and more
diverse audience - the next generation of creative talent in particular.
"More than 10,000 people participate in Semi Permanent each
year, from different corners of the creative industry - it made sense to
have the AWARD Awards, our biggest celebration and demonstration of our
industry's work, held in that arena.
"The move
will also be an opportunity for AWARD to interact with the Semi
Permanent audience. During the three day event, we will be providing: an
experiential component showcasing some of the most brilliant regional
work from the last few years; Q&A sessions with the creators of the
work; an internationally recognised speaker; and, a short form AWARD
School creative execution program - all of which will introduce AWARD to
an entirely new audience across the three days."
Says Tony Hale, CEO, The Communications Council: "This is an exciting and
progressive move for AWARD which aligns with one of The Communications
Council's key goals for 2016 - championing commercial creativity by
showcasing the best of our industry to a much broader audience. Our
members will also benefit from access to Semi Permanent talks and
exhibitions with discounted rates and invitations to exclusive member
events. There is a real focus on creativity in Sydney during May, with
Vivid held concurrently - it's important that AWARD is a prominent part
of that celebration."
Since launching in Sydney in 2003, Semi
Permanent has grown into a global platform for creativity, art and
design, running in more than 11 cities and bringing together a diverse
creative community to celebrate, inspire and share ideas.
Murray
Bell, co-founder and director of Semi Permanent: "Semi Permanent
is very excited to announce the start of a much more engaging
collaboration with AWARD.
"From 2016 onwards, it is a big proud
step for us to really deliver on our commitment to go beyond inspiration
and truly enable the creative community. In addition to the existing
program of elite presentations, world-first exhibitions, workshops and
innovation labs, attendees of our headline Sydney event will now have
the opportunity to hear from, meet and collaborate with both students
and leaders of the Australasian advertising community through AWARD. We
believe our collaboration with AWARD will bring together a strong,
dynamic and passionate community that will inevitably create exciting
new opportunities."
Semi Permanent will run from 26th to 28th May
at Sydney's Carriageworks, with the AWARD Awards taking place on Friday
27th May. Late entries to the awards will be accepted up until Monday
9th November, incurring a late fee. For category details and to enter,
visit the AWARD website.