The 2013 Brand New Awards are now open and accepting entries. We’ve made a few changes this year, outlined below.

Categories
We have removed two categories that have been a consistent struggle to judge for three years: Guideline Documents and Logo and Identity Animations. Guidelines are simply not that exciting to judge and even if they are valiant efforts, it’s hard to get the judges’ attention. Animation is a category that I enjoyed a lot but it has been very difficult to judge as a standalone entry when you are comparing a simple logo animation to a full on-air package, so we will still accept animation work but as an application within an identity.

Deadlines
Please look at the deadlines listed on the site carefully and note that the FINAL deadline is already listed. There will be NO extensions. We are also introducing a late fee between the March 7 and March 21 deadlines, as in years past many people have expressed disappointment at submitting on time while others wait for the deadline extension and have no penalty. So, there are no surprises now. It’s all on the board.

Good News and Bad News
First, the bad news: we will no longer publish and distribute a book with the winners. Unfortunately the economics of it have stopped working and the demand for the printed book has diminished over the past three years. We will still design a book and it will be available for purchase through a third-party, on-demand publisher; it will be smaller in scope and less generous in space. Now, the good news: We will be publishing all the winning work in a free website. We will no longer charge for accessing the content. This is to increase the amount of people who see the work. No point in winning if you can’t get as many eyeballs on your work as possible. We will also make a PDF available for free download.

Related Good News (Past content is now free!)
Since we will be moving to a new distribution model we have now opened up the 2010, 2011, and 2012 websites for free viewing. Jumpstart here. High-resolution PDFs are also now free and books have been heavily discounted (we can’t give those away for free unfortunately). If you purchased any of the versions between December 8, 2013 and January 8, 2014 please e-mail us and we will issue a refund to honor the new pricing.

Certificate of Award
All winning entries will receive a very authoritative and good-looking certificate.

Good luck!
I think that’s it for the significant changes. Everything else remains the same: pricing, kickass judges, 100% online/electronic submission process, etc.

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.