Communication Arts Design Annual

Communication Arts runs its Design Annual competition with a publicly named jury of international design professionals who vote entries in or out, with a simple majority advancing work to finals and recusal from own projects, giving it a documented, independent, qualified-peer process (criteria 1.1-1.3). Fee disclosure is largely clear: per-entry fees start around $45 (well within norms), there is no gala fee, and the milled-aluminum Award of Excellence is included with selection; only a logo/licensing fee item was undisclosed. The organizer is well established - Coyne & Blanchard, Inc., a three-generation family business publishing since 1959 with the competition running annually since 1960, based in Palo Alto, CA, with named principal Patrick Coyne. Past winners are published and verifiable in the Design Annual. The dominant factor limiting the score is selectivity disclosure: Communication Arts does not publish a winner/acceptance rate, so under the winner-rate guard that 18-point criterion is scored 0 and kept in the denominator, and no numeric winner cap is stated. Sponsorship disclosure was also not located. Applied against 87.5 assessable points, 69.5 earned points yield 79.

Founded 1959 · Communication Arts (Coyne & Blanchard, Inc.) · HQ Palo Alto, California, USA · Marketing, Advertising & PR · Entry Paid

The Communication Arts Design Annual is the design competition of Communication Arts, a trade magazine for visual communicators founded in 1959 and published by the family-run Coyne & Blanchard, Inc.; entrants self-submit paid entries that are juried by a panel of named international design professionals, and selected work is published in the annual Design issue (print and digital) and on commarts.com.

Profile data

No People's Grade yet. You can be the first to share your experience with this award.

Industry Alternatives

Other awards in the same industry (Marketing, Advertising & PR), graded A or B -- real judging, disclosed criteria, and genuine selectivity.