11 Comments

think that the entry fee is way too expensive!! - £100 per image!! i thought it was a typo when i read it - was going to enter last night but can't justify that kind of money.......shame.......
nadine
2009-12-15 13:54:17

I agree with Nadine - as a start-up business, it's hard to find money to put into these things, although they're so important in terms of recognition... Ah well! This time next year we'll be rich. Hopefully!
Ellie
2010-01-05 11:56:25

I'm afraid I agree love the annual but its showing off to the industry rather than potential clients and the money can be spent on generating new business, maybe next year the mbdget won't be as tight would have definately entered otherwise
Joanne
2010-01-05 12:22:13

I agree Nadine. You can spend an arm and a leg obtaining a little Kudos. I head-up a creative department at Wrights and we've spent quite a bit on this kind of thing. I'm sure if CR lowered the cost more talent would see daylight.
Phil Armstrong
2010-01-05 12:48:00

The main and only purpose of British award schemes (and generally, most European award schemes, too) is TO MAKE MONEY. They are far-far-far more expensive than American competitions which have 50+ years long tradition! The winners in CR Annual are known in advance, anyway - those who appeared the most in latest issues of CR. Which are, of course, the ones who are connected in some way to the particular sponsors of CR. All that is just a plain bullshit. I'd rather give my money away than spend it on impossible mission to get the award that means close to nothing in design industry. AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT CR IS NOT GOING TO PUBLISH THIS COMMENT.
Joe
2010-01-06 01:30:29

A guy from Bibliotheque is going to judge someone's work? Well, that studio is so (deleted by moderator) terrible that I can't imagine why it gets so much attention. Example - their design for Shaughnessy's book 'How to be a designer...' is something I'm sure any design student would do better. It is just awful. All that shows that British design is in deep shit.
Smith
2010-01-06 01:41:00

@Joe
The winners are not known in advance (unless you mean 'before the Annual comes out' – but that's kind of inevitable). The winners are not connected to "sponsors" (whatever that means). And no, I will publish your comment.
 Mark Sinclair
2010-01-06 09:57:04

Can I have my money back if I don't win?
Nicola
2010-01-06 23:02:32

@ 'Joe'
On behalf of everyone who works at CR and those who help us judge our Annual, whose integrity you seem to be happy to insult so freely, let me just debunk the idiotic claims in your comment.

Firstly, you blithely state that British award schemes are "far-far-far more expensive" than those in the US. The nearest comparison in scope to the Annual is the ADC. It costs $150 to enter one piece of design into the ADC this year - almost exactly the same price as the Annual. The fee for the Clios is $400. ID Annual is $125. The only one I can see that is substantially cheaper is Print's Regional Design Annual at $65.

Secondly you state that the winners will be those who have appeared most in recent issues of the magazine - even a cursory glance at previous Annuals will reveal that this is utter nonsense. Then, you say that these "are, of course, the ones who are connected in some way to the particular sponsors of CR". We don't have any sponsors.

If anyone's talking 'bullshit" here 'Joe', it's you.
 PatrickBurgoyne
2010-01-07 03:08:53

I'm loving the commenters vs the CR staff banter! :p

£100, although more than I'd pay simply to enter any competition, isn't really that expensive for such an entry.

I do however think that if you're contributing to the magazine; i.e. subscribing, buying it, and inevitably reacting to the advertising inside it, which is the reason why advertisers pay to be in the magazine, then it is a bit of a burn.

I paid - it think - £15 to enter garden photographer of the year; but that was for 4 images and they get no other income from me whatsoever, so the funding has to come from somewhere and so I can't begrudge this.

However as I say, it is a bit of a burn to charge people who already fund the very existence of CR to enter, what is after all, a magazine based competition.

It's CRs business model though and I wouldn't get up in arms about it, if you don't like it then simply don't enter! But £100 is more than I'd pay for the potential of an ego boost.

Maybe in the future you could consider giving away an annual entry as a free gift with the subscription; I'd prefer that to the big-book-of-yearly-ads that dons my recycle bin! (however I love the monologue, keep that coming!)
n
2010-01-28 22:21:03

Look, at the end of the day, CR is not forcing entry on anyone. The exposure gained is potentially very positive, and lets face it, £100 is less than a single printer cartridge in the scheme of things. and when you consider whose noses your work will pass under ,it kind of looks like a bargain to me- how much would you be willing to spend to travel to a meeting to present your work to, say, Phil Clandillon? bet it would be a lot more than £100. it comes down to individual choice- either choose to enter or dont, but dont then rant about the utter unfairness of it all!
chesterfields
2010-05-28 10:16:00

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