Winning Awards is Nice

It has been an insane month. We do try to plan our projects and workload in such a way that things are as balanced as possible, but it’s sometimes unavoidable that fate conspires in such a way that your best laid plans are set to ruin.

Maybe not to “ruin”, so much… being busy is good. It’s fantastic, even. I love what I do, and the fact that so many people come to us on their own or through referrals makes me feel great about my work. But in periods like this, I do come to miss things like human contact, sleep, exercise and healthy food.

That’s one of the reasons I was so surprised this weekend to find a notice telling me that we’d been nominated and chosen to receive a CWA Design Award. Nice!

I don’t think I’ve entered a design award competition since our first year in business. At first, I thought winning design awards would get the word out, and get us recognized as legitimate and worthwhile. After a while though, and after having won several of these little accolades, I decided it really wasn’t a meaningful investment of my time or money. Sure, winning is an ego-stroker… but it offers little else. Aside from a lucrative profit for the companies collecting the often exhorbitant entry fees, of course.

I had a look at the CWA structure, and they represent one of the few independent design awards that are actually free to enter. The nomination made a bit more sense, now. These award programs that are free to enter (or have a realistic administrative fee) are much more representative and accessible than their largely commercial counterparts. Honestly, no freelancer, independent designer or small studio has thousands to spend on their own ego every year, regardless of how worthy their work might actually be.

A design award means quite a bit more in my mind, when it hasn’t been bought.

I have no idea who nominated us, but to that kind person who thought we were worth some of their own precious and dwindling free time, I sincerely thank you.