Runner up

Johann Westin from the Pyrenees Advocate for her ad, Bernie Turner.

Judges’ comments were:
I liked this because it does a lot with not much, plus it doesn't fall into the trap of just being a 'congratulations' ad. The headline is clever and the layout punchy, especially considering the small size.

 

 

Best Mono Ad - Under 7000 circulation

Winner

Jenna Kirby from the Lakes Post for her ad, Fresh Hair.

Judges’ comments were:
I liked the creativity in this ad. Most hairdresser ads are terribly predictable and are generally ignored as a result. Jenna's ads ignore convention and as a result it's hard to imagine readers not remembering this ad. It ticks the critical boxes of instantly communicating and being interesting enough to get itself read.

 

Runner up

Emma Hathaway from the Riverine Herald for her ad, Acoustic and Digital Hearing.

Judges’ comments were:
This ad does a lot with not much. It's also good to see teaser ads being used to drive traffic to features, there should be more of this. Appropriate image enables a simple headline that would ring true with anyone suffering hearing loss. Copy then drives reader to the answers they seek in the forthcoming feature.

 

 

Best Mono Ad - Over 7000 circulation

Winner

Yvonne Coffey from the Gippsland Times & Maffra Spectator for her ad, S'coolhouse Dance.

Judges’ comments were:
I liked the way this ad issued a challenge to readers. The image backed up the premise in the headline and communicated the energy and fun of the classes. The copy completed the sell.

    

Special Mention

Kate Redda from The Great Southern Star for her ad, Kongwak Primary School.

Judges’ comments were:
Just wanted to mention this ad as well. It lacks copy, but I loved the concept, the image and headline do a great job of encouraging readers to reminisce and in the process the ad positions the school beautifully as a throw back to the days of 'old fashioned values, small classes and a focus on fun'.

 

Best Colour Ad Under 7,000 circulation

Runner up

Greg Miles from the Northern Times for his ad, Curves

Judges’ comments were:
Love this ad, does a lot with only a little space. Engaging image, headline offers two benefits (have fun and look better), copy adds several more benefits and the layout is bright and engaging.

 

Best Colour Ad Under 7,000 circulation

Winner

Jodie Saville from the Circular Head Chronicle for her ad, Covers Plus.

Judges’ comments were:
Fantasic image and use of white space to kick the image off the page. Headline suggests the possible rejuvenation of old favourites you thought were dead and gone. Copy backs up the sell in a functional, no fuss layout. Hard to imagine any reader not looking at this ad.

Runner up

Jenna Kirby from the Bairnsdale Advertiser for her ad, Bairnsdale Aquatic Centre.

Judges’ comments were:
Great headline, great image, solid copy, hard to believe the target market wouldn't spend some time with this ad when they came across it in the paper.

 

Best Colour Ad - Over 7000 circulation

Winner

Jenna Kirby from The East Gippsland News for her ad, Bulmers.

Judges’ comments were:
This is a classic example of a clinically prepared print ad. It does absolutely everything it's supposed to with hardly a weak link in sight. There's a benefit-based headline that knows who it wants to talk to and what it wants to tell them. There's an attractive image of the product. There's solid copy that demonstrates a range of other benefits, and an effective layout that delivers everything in a no-nonsense, uncluttered manner. In fact the only thing it misses is a call to action at the base of the copy to generate some urgency, but despite that it is still a wonderful example of effective ad design.

   

The Judge has some general comments for this category and they are:
All of the multi-page features had way too many bad ads in them which undermined the value of the few good ads. So the real contenders in this category were the one page features where, as the year went on, we started to see a concerted effort to make sure every ad on the page gave prospects a reason to act.

 

Best Marketing or Feature Idea - under 7000 circulation

Runner up

Jenna Kirby from the Lakes Post for her ad, Lakes Entrance late night shopping. 

Judges’ comments were:
Most of the ads here offered readers a reason to read on, or buy, and the layout of the page worked better than many of the other entrants, some of whom came across as muddled and difficult to read.

Best Marketing or Feature Idea - under 7000 circulation

Winner

Liz Comtesse & Sandra McCurdy from the Yarrawonga Chronicle for their Healthy Body & Mind feature.

Judges’ comments were:
One of the few times for the year where a feature was entered with all ads offering readers a reason to read on, or to act. All the ads would work as stand-alone ads in the paper (as opposed to other feature entrants where the ad layouts were substandard and more like text thrown into a box, than legitimate ad concepts

Runner – up
The Judge did not award a runner up in this category. The reason is that whilst in other categories there was major improvement over the year in terms of the entrants adhering to the principles for good ad design, this category lagged behind. All of the features entered had more bad ads than good, and as stated many times, these awards are for ad design, not page layout, photography or editorial content. So to choose a runner up would have rewarded an entry that simply did not adhere to the judging criteria.

 

Best Marketing or Feature Idea  - Over 7000 circulation

Winner

Tara Ridley from the Mildura Weekly for her self-promotional ad.

Judges’ comments were:
I loved this concept. First and foremost because self-promotion is something newspapers are so bad at - we just don't do it. It's great to see a paper using the huge megaphone it has at its disposal to spruik its own products and people. Tara and the staff at the Mildura Weekly practise what they preach. They use the paper's enormous voice to sell themselves. I also love this ad as it paves the way for the reps to visit clients they haven't seen before by giving them a degree of celebrity status. If the client is already aware of who you are, this helps on first visits. Plus the ad shows leadership, with the newspaper showing faith in its own product, and showing advertisers how powerful newspaper advertising can be. Great job.

  

Now to the major award we have all been waiting for

The Winner of the 2010-2011 VCPA 'Ad of the Year' and of the $5,000 International Trip

Jenna Kirby from The East Gippsland News for her Bulmers Ad

Judges’ comments were:
This was a very difficult decision, but when all is said and done, the other entrants had deficiencies. Not many mind you, but each had something glaring that could have been better, be it a degree of clutter in the layout, poor typography, poor colour choices, no body copy, etc. But Jenna's ad for Bulmers ticks all the boxes. Good use of space, benefit headline that identifies the target market, good selling copy, understated use of colour, solid image, effective and easy-to-read layout and simple, effective typography. It really is a stunning example of effective ad design, and is a worthy winner of the inaugural VCPA Ad of the Year Competition. Congratulations.