ADC Young Creatives Award

The jury met as early as 9 a.m. at Zentralstrasse 18 to sift through the many entries.

Over coffee, croissants and donuts, the judging began for the entertaining but lengthy Film category.

While a surprising number of the submitted works elicited a laugh from the jury, other spots provoked long conversations about understanding. After all, not all of the films were able to convey their message directly - unintended messages also resonated.

From the idea to the implementation

Already during the judging of the film category, it became clear that the focus of the jury members differed greatly in some cases. For example, some judged the submitted works from the perspective of the idea, while others based their views more on the impact or skillful implementation. Discussions flared up especially when an idea was good but the implementation failed to convey it. Particularly heated discussions were triggered by individual submissions whose idea was convincing but whose implementation was not.

There was also a lot of debate about the understanding of some of the ideas. Some good ideas made the shortlist, even though the viewer of the spot could interpret it in at least three different ways. The jury was not always sure if their interpretation of the work was what the submitters wanted. In the end, however, the strict jury found not only a worthy winner in each category, but also a lot of impressive submissions for the shortlist. The shortlisted films can all be admired on the Awards website.

In the judging of the film category, it became very clear what made the work of the jury of the young talent competition more difficult: Should the idea or also the implementation be evaluated - can a good idea be put on the shortlist, even if the resolution is not very obvious? An ingenious and beautiful idea, which was also simply but aptly implemented, may nevertheless stand out much less than a simple bang for the buck. So both spots end up on the shortlist, but the better place goes to the film that makes more of an impression. Even if a good idea is just as important as the effect - what sticks in the minds of the viewers is usually the stronger implementation. At the same time, a fair jury also wants to consider the idea itself, without being influenced by an unfavorable implementation. And a simple spot can possibly be turned into a cross-media campaign series, while another spot cannot really be implemented further for a campaign, despite its striking effect. A dilemma that the jury found its way out of in part only with a democratic vote.

Feedback conversations

The young talents receive a clear opinion on the impact of their submission as well as helpful tips and professional advice on their work during a feedback discussion. "Any of the participants is welcome to request such an interview, regardless of whether they are on the shortlist or not," emphasizes Philipp Skrabal.

The two chairmen of the ADC Young Creatives Award, Philipp Skrabal and Dominik Oberwiler, are best able to tell the entrants which of the submissions had better chances and why in a personal discussion.

The Young Professionals membership category

A year ago, ADC Switzerland launched the Young Professionals membership category in order to increase its involvement in the training and promotion of young creative talent. Now, the winners of the Young Creatives Award and/or the competition of the ADC/BSW creative school can become members of "Young ADC" and are thus part of the club. The extraordinary thing about this is that they are admitted as jurors at the next upcoming ADC judging (shortlist and bronze on the first jury day). Young ADC members also have free access to all professional events in the ADC Gallery and the opportunity to apply for Creative Camps and events of the ADC of Europe (usually two camps per year, in which two creatives from Switzerland are usually allowed to participate). Ursina Maurer