The shortlist will be announced on November 23 and the finalists and winners on November 27
The deadline for the submission of digital and advertising entries for YoungGuns Awards 2009 has been extended to November 6. This will be the final extension before the judging that commences shortly thereafter.
The Digital Awards initiative was launched this year.
"The extension was due to two reasons – a number of entrants were asking for extensions and we had technical difficulties with our entry system last week. So it seemed only fair to give people a little more time," Kristian Barnes, founder, YoungGuns Awards, tells afaqs!.
The shortlist will be announced on November 23 and the finalists and winners on November 27 through YoungGuns' website (www.ygaward.com) and partners.
The YoungGuns are open to creative professionals and students who are under the age of 30 years. The nine year old awards platform celebrates work emerging from around the world. The focus is not necessarily on work for big brands or with huge budgets, but on ideas.
Last year, India had a total of six Bullets and four finalists.
Contract Advertising picked up a gold in the Print Charity and Public Service category and a silver in the Copywriting Campaigns category. JWT took two silver Bullets – one in the Art Direction Campaign category and the other in the Outdoor Campaign category.
The other agency that took a couple of Bullets was Ogilvy India – it won a silver and a bronze.
For this year, YoungGuns has launched a new website with a community section, where advertising professionals can share their portfolios with each other and develop peer group relationships globally. Since its launch in August, the community boasts of more than 840 members.
"New and interesting work or ideas that are worth talking about can also be put up on the homepage. All work can be uploaded this year to save individuals and agencies money in these hard economic times," Barnes says.
A further initiative has been launched on www.awardshowsacrifice.com, wherein potential entrants can "sacrifice" other award shows to earn free entries into the YoungGuns.
Enthused by the prospects of YoungGuns in India, which she refers to as "one of the biggest supporting markets", Barnes says, "We would love to come back to India and do a 2009 winners and finalists exhibition again in Mumbai."