Today I got a bit of welcome news in the mailbox — a logo I submitted to the American Graphic Design Awards was selected as a winner! Apparently, the contest saw 10,000 entries, of which, only 15% get selected. Made me feel good.

letter of congratulations, the details aren’t too important

But along with the congratulations letter came an order form. Since GD USA is a free (ad-supported) magazine, they require a fee of $250 for publication. In other words, unless I pay that money, my work won’t appear in the magazine, nor the website, and frankly my award will go largely unrecognised.

Is this extortion or what?

Coincidentally, tonight I am preparing to attend the Young Guns 6 party at the Art Directors’ Club. I didn’t enter the Young Guns competition this year, primarily because of the $125 entry fee. That’s right, even to be considered, you’ve got to shell out $125.

The decision not to enter Young Guns was a difficult one for me. This is one of the few competitions aimed at those under 30 years of age, which means that straight from go the pool of entries is limited — I don’t have to compete with Pentagram. But in my experience, the winners were all from a more illustrative school of design, their work ranged from posters, to CDs, to book design, and other very artsy media. I, however, have a portfolio filled with logos, identities, and a few corporate collateral pieces. In other words, my work may be commercially viable and professionally executed, but it doesn’t have the lofty sort of ‘wow’ that tends to win awards. So I weighed my own self-doubt against the $125 and this year decided not to enter. Tonight, I’ll be able to see the work of the winners and determine whether or not that was a good choice.

In two years I’ll be 29, so I can still enter, and I hope that by that time I’ll have a more significant portfolio filled with work that actually turns me on a bit more. And hopefully by that time I won’t have to beg, borrow, and steal for $125. Then again, I said that two years ago. *sigh*

Are contests too expensive? Are these awards bodies creating a false economy by boxing out freelancers, students, and even small studios with publication fees? The alternative, I fear, is a sea of mediocre work, submitted by amateurs and freeloaders. Obviously this is to be avoided, by cmon.

my awards certificate, with obligatory spelling error

So as I enjoy my award, the first in many years, (largely because I simply haven’t entered anything in quite some time (mainly due to fees, I’m afraid)), I have to contemplate how money will figure in to this situation. Can I afford to show the world how awesome I am? Can I afford not to?

// a tale of design, the industry
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