Y Design Awards offer digital showcase

UK digital designers are invited to submit their work into the 2007 Y Design Awards, which recognise individuals in the UK digital design industry, part of the London Design Festival.

William Knight, Director of the London Design Festival, said: "It's fantastic news that the Y Design Awards are again being held as part of the London Design Festival this year.

"The Festival promotes and celebrates all forms of design, and today there is none more important than digital design.

"London is the creative capital of the world in part because of its world class digital community; the Y Design awards are an important part of recognising and rewarding this".

The Awards are free to enter and the deadline for submissions is Friday 31 August.

Last year's Y Design Awards were immensely popular and over 400 entries (a third more than last year) are expected to battle it out for the 2007 trophies.

The aim of the Y Design Awards, which are sponsored by Microsoft Expression, Carrenza and Saatchi and Saatchi Interactive, is to recognise the best creative talent in the UK's digital space.

Now in its second year the awards will be judged by a panel of five renowned industry experts.

The winners will be announced at a strictly "no dress code" awards ceremony on 18 September 2007 at the Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, in London's arts quarter, the South Bank Centre.

John Allwright, Product Manager, Microsoft Expression, said: "We are delighted to sponsor this year's Y Design awards and to be working with the UK's digital design community.

"Our goal is to provide them with the innovative tools to raise the bar for user experiences and deliver compelling, rich, immersive, highly usable applications and content across the web, the Windows desktop, mobile devices and the digital home".

After the gala, each category's winner will be entered into the People's Choice Award which will be open for votes from the online community for six weeks.

Last year's winner of The People's Choice Award was Tim Wong at Rufus Leonard for their work with the Imperial War Museum.

Will Rowe, Managing Director at Rufus Leonard, said: "We were delighted to win The People's Choice Award, as it represents the views of our peers in the industry.

"The Y Design Awards provide an excellent platform for digital designers to showcase their work and for the design industry to recognise good design in a digital medium".

This year, the Y Design Awards introduces six new categories: The Ethical Campaign Award - A work for any purpose which has been bought to life online using an ethical approach.

This could include the purpose of the campaign, how it has been designed, how it is delivered to its audience, its effect on its audience, the planet and so on.

Best Use of Wireless/Mobile - A work for any purpose which delivers an overall extraordinary user experience on mobile devices.

The Community Award - A work for any purpose which delivers an overall extraordinary user experience as part of an online community, such as social networking sites, forums.

Young Designer Award - An exceptional piece of work from a digital designer aged 25 or younger.

The So Successful Award - A work for any purpose which successfully engaged a far greater online audience than expected through its innovative concept and design.

Web traffic statistics will be required.

Best New Business Award - An exceptional piece of work from an agency in its first two years of business.

Dan Sutherland, CEO of Carrenza, one of the sponsors of the award, commented: "We look forward to even more inspired and imaginative entries and the opportunity to celebrate again the hard work, vision and innovation demonstrated by the UK's top digital design teams.

"Last year's Awards identified some highly creative pieces of digital work and captured the variety of ways in which people can use, view and interact online.

"The new categories will give the scope for exciting and innovative campaigns that are ethical, are on the move or are so popular that they exceeded expectation".

Neil Hughston, managing director, Saatchi and Saatchi Interactive, said: "Now in their second year, the Y Design Awards have already established themselves as an important fixture in the design calendar.

"I'm hoping to see some truly inventive and engaging entries that push the boundaries creatively and inspire people to think differently about digital design".

Submissions for the 2007 Y Design Awards should be made via the Y Design website before 31 August.

Awards categories, application forms, terms and conditions and details of last year's winners can be obtained from the website.

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