About the Awards

How are the awards different from Brand New?

Brand New, the blog, celebrates the best AND worst in identity design and the emphasis is on telling engaging stories, good and bad, that may appeal to the broadest audience possible through well-known companies, products, or services. The BNAs celebrate only the best work whether it's for a well-known brand or for one with a more limited audience. If it’s properly conceptualized, well executed, and makes good strategic sense it has every chance to win.

Why should I enter the BNAs and not some other awards?

The BNAs focus solely on identity design, allowing us to pick a select group of judges with expertise in this discipline. In turn, this allows the judges to streamline their observations and selections within a very specific range of work submitted. Your work will get the attention it deserves. Our judges — a seldom seen combination of designers and clients — will look for work that is conceptually strong, aesthetically flawless, and strategically smart. Your work will stand apart not just for its design merits but for making good business sense too. As a yearly snapshot of identity design from around the world the BNAs will strive to represent only the very best. Your work.

About the Judges

Is the judging online or in person?

All five judges will convene in Austin, TX to collectively select the winning work.

How come there are so many Americans?

There is no budget to fly in someone from outside the U.S. at this point.

About the Categories

I didn’t see a category for packaging, is there no room for consumer products?

There isn’t BUT you can submit the logo or brand hierarchy treatment for a consumer product. Note that our judges will not be looking at the obscure plastic you found to make that cool shampoo bottle as part of their criteria.

I didn’t see a category for magazines or newspapers, is there no room for editorial work?

There isn’t BUT you can submit masthead treatments for a magazine, journal, newspaper, or blog.

Printing of PDFs

How are the PDFs we submit being printed?

The PDFs will be printed at a local print shop in Austin. The quality is standard laser printer on standard office paper.

Why does each page cost what it cost?

The price per page is the most competitive we found in the city at half the cost of any major office supplies chain.

About Eligibility

I sense a heavy emphasis on corporate identity for big corporations…

Don’t. The BNAs are open to every imaginable industry or sector. Non-profits? Yes. Government agencies? Yes. Cultural institutions? Yes. Zoos? Yes. Micro breweries? Yes. Anything else? Yes.

I want to submit an identity done by the in-house design group, or staff designer, of my company, is that okay?

Yes, it is.

I am not a designer or design firm, I am a client. Can I submit an identity project we commissioned?

Yes, as long as you credit the design firm and can answer all the necessary questions in the submission form.

I want to submit the identity we did for our own design firm, is that okay?

Yes, it is.

I want to submit the identity for a self-started project, is that okay?

Yes, it is.

I created this awesome identity in 2005, can I submit it?

No. Only work implemented or approved for implementation in 2013 is eligible.

About the Winners

What do winners get?

1. A certificate of award for each winning entry.
2. Inclusion in the printed, on-demand book.
3. Inclusion in the open-access web showcase.

Do winners get a copy of the on-demand book?

No. Unfortunately the economics of publishing books are not working anymore so we are not printing in bulk and the cost of on-demand books is too high to provide around 75 free books.

Why are you not publishing a book like previous years?

The cost of production and distribution is barely being covered by the demand of the printed book; as much as we would like to keep it going, we can not operate at a loss.

When will winners be notified?

Shortly after judging is complete, currently scheduled for March 28, 2014.

E-mail us if we have left something unanswered.