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Following advice from last year's media jury, the awards categories will now be based on product types rather than the media in which ads appear. In the past five years, the pace of change in the industry has been ferocious and the new-look awards are designed to reflect these advancements.

With media neutral planning becoming such a touchstone of modern media thinking, the old medium-by-medium categories no longer reflected the way media thinkers plan great campaigns. Today every campaign has to be integrated and almost every campaign involves more than one medium; the vital effect is the aggregate of them all in the service of the client.

The ten new product-orientated categories are: Alcoholic Drinks and Tobacco; Automotive; Fashion, Beauty and Healthcare; Financial and Corporate; Grocery, Soft Drinks and Household; IT and Consumer Durables; Media and Entertainment; Public Sector, Utilities and Charities; Retail and Home Shopping; Travel and Leisure. Each category covers entries that used single media or ran as multimedia campaigns.

±±¾©Èü³µpk10 has also introduced a category to reflect the importance of qualitative and quantitative research in directing creative media thinking, and the planning and implementation of campaigns.

And, to embrace newer additions to the media mix such as events, branding, programming and so on, there is a new category for Best Total Communications Programme. Here judges will be looking for the most outstanding example of a seamless total communications programme.

In acknowledgement of the fact that great media thinking is not the preserve of the media agency, ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 has also underlined its recognition of world class ideas in the media sales arena, where creativity and innovation have had a demonstrably positive impact on revenues.

Three new categories will now reward the most talented people working at media owners, with each award carrying a cash prize and the opportunity to write an article in ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 on the future of their particular media sector. The new categories are: Broadcast Sales Team of the Year; Print Sales Team of the Year; Outdoor Sales Team of the Year. In these categories judges will be looking for examples of successful cross-media packages, a reputation for creative and bespoke media solutions and excellent customer service and profile within the industry. Shortlisted entrants in these categories will be invited to attend a viva with the panel of judges.

Durden will chair a jury of leading media practitioners from the agency, media owner and client communities to find the best examples of creative media thinking from the past 12 months. The 2002 awards cover campaigns which ran between 1 August 2001 and 31 July 2002 and the deadline for entries is 23 August 2002. The awards are open to UK advertising and media agencies and all media owners, and all work must have been created and displayed in the UK.

Judging takes place in September and the winners will be revealed at the ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Media Awards dinner on Wednesday 27 November.

The fundamental overhaul of the awards enhances ±±¾©Èü³µpk10's commitment to recognising and rewarding where media made a difference and is designed to better reflect the changing nature of the media discipline.

For further information, contact Anne Currie on (020) 8267 4017 or via e-mail on anne.currie@haynet.com.

INDUSTRY REACTION TO CAMPAIGN'S REDESIGNED MEDIA AWARDS

NICK EMERY, chief strategy and planning officer, MindShare

Despite the growing number of media awards, recognition from ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 remains a plaudit that the industry aspires to. The move to category awards reflects our client focus and encompasses the broad remit that media companies now fulfil. The new award format is designed to encourage and reward outstanding media executions.

NICK MANNING, chief executive, Manning Gottlieb OMD

Media agencies no longer plan medium-by-medium. Virtually all campaigns now are multimedia, with combinations of traditional media and new media (web, SMS, interactive TV) the norm. We look at brands first, consumers second and channels (not media) third.

Rarely do individual media stand out as the "only right solution for a brand, and we are as likely to look at DM and PR (and their digital versions) as at conventional media. While executional excellence within each media vehicle is important, the total effect on the brand is a lot more important than any individual medium's contribution. This is why a category approach to the ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Media Awards makes eminent sense.

JOHN HARLOW, founding partner, Naked

Neutral communications advice is the most sought after area of expertise that the media sector can offer, and it potentially throws media thinking to the forefront of our industry.

±±¾©Èü³µpk10, as our voice-piece, must change along with change, and give this due prominence.

By going category specific, we are recognising that broad multi-layered communications thinking is, or should be, the norm and it is getting difficult to fathom the media imprint by trying to judge a single medium campaign, such as posters. That is much more relevant for the creative industry where work can be judged in isolation.

SIMON MARQUIS, chief executive, Zenith Media

The ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Media Awards have, in the space of a few years, become both authoritative and essential. No media agency or media owner can afford not to participate. Advertisers are rightly delighted if their brands are honoured industry-wide.

I am heartened by the responsiveness of ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 to the thoughtful comments of the judging panel in 2001, who believed that the old categories no longer reflected the way most media problems are tackled. Today, every campaign has to be integrated, and almost every campaign involves more than one medium. Therefore, I am very pleased with the move to industry sector categories and believe that this will stimulate both more interest from agencies and media owners and yet higher quality of entries.

The 2002 awards will undoubtedly be the best to date and I am sure that association with them will be a positive and rewarding involvement.