What's New & Different for 2009

Eligibility Timeframe:

• Eligibility now extends from January 1 2008.  Nominations may cite achievements since that date.  Advertising, video, and other media issued since that date are eligible to be entered.  There is no eligibility timeframe for web site and blog entries - it doesn't matter when web sites and blogs were first published.

Entry Deadlines

There are four entry deadlines, including two early-bird deadlines by which the entry fees are substantially discounted:

• November 7 2008 : entry fees are discounted by as much as 40%
• December 12 2008: entry fees are discounted by as much as 25%
• March 31 2009
• April 30 2009: last day that late entries will be accepted (late fees charged in addition to any entry fees)

New Categories:

• Business Innovation of the Year
• Fastest-Growing Company of the Year

Changed Categories:
There are many changes to existing categories:

• The names of many of the categories have been changed to emphasize that the ABAs recognize achievements during a specific period of time. For example, "Best Executive" is now "Executive of the Year," "Best Marketing Department" is now "Marketing Department of the Year," and so on.
• The Communications or PR Campaign of the Year category has been split in two, with one category honoring campaigns for a for-profit purpose and the other for campaigns for a non-profit purpose
• The Marketing Campaign of the Year category has been split in two, with one category honoring campaigns in support of products and the other for campaigns in support of services
• The group of categories formerly known as “MIS & IT Categories” have been renamed “Information Technology Categories"
• The “Computer Software” sub-category of the Best New Product or Service of the Year category has itself been split into four subcategories: for new versions of established software, for software as a service, for new desktop or end-user software, and for new server software.
• The Advertising categories have been overhauled.  There are now 33 industry-specific categories to recognize individual ads and campaigns in those industries, across all media.  The Advertising/Design Craft & Technique categories remain, but three of them have been eliminated: Best Direction, Best Camerawork/Photography, and Best Package Design. Also, ad campaign entries may now include up to four (4) media elements.  (Previously the limit was three.)
• The Web Site categories have been overhauled.  There are now 33 industry-specific categories to recognize web sites and blogs in those industries.  There are also 11 craft and function categories for web sites and blogs.  There are now many more categories that recognize web sites and blogs, but several of the old web site categories have been eliminated.
• The Live Event categories have been overhauled.  There are now eight (8) categories, replacing 11.

Eliminated Categories:

• Best Franchisee
• Best Direction (Advertising)
• Best Camerawork/Photography (Advertising)
• Best Package Design (Advertising)
• Several Web Site categories (although the total number of web site categories has been increased)
• Best Narration/Performance (Video)
• Best Original Music/Lyrics (Video)
• Best Soundtrack/Audio Mix (Video)
• Best Writing (Video)