The Cresta Awards are a worldwide awards whose purpose is to acknowledge high standards of creative achievement in the internationaladvertising, digital design and marketing communications industry. It functions through an alternative judging process based upon narrow criteria.
History
The awards, launched in 1993 by Creative Standards International Inc. in partnership with the International Advertising Association, were spearheaded by Nancy Ross, who had beforehand helped to run the Clio Awards for 16 years. Cresta, which stands for "Creative Standards", has grown extensively with the evolution of digital media. In its 2019 competition it included: moving image, digital, print advertising, billboards/posters, ambient & experiential, integrated, radio, podcasts, branded entertainment, direct marketing, design, social media, creative crafts and technology. In 2019 it introduced a new category exploring future media. Cresta's headquarters was located in New York City from 1993 until 2018. In November 2018 the headquarters moved to London when the Awards were acquired by Creative Standards International Ltd, a company led by Lewis Blackwell as CEO and Alan Page as President, both with backgrounds as creative directors. In January 2019 the Awards were relaunched with a revised website and new commitments to community and educational initiatives.
Judging
Cresta is an extensive and highly selective awards program, an official 2017 press release noting a reception of more than 3,300 entries from 53 countries for the 2016 competition, with 74 entries from 13 countries designated as winners. Entries are judged by a Grand Jury of more than 80 seasoned creative directors, graphic artists, design and film specialists from around the world. Members judge the shortlisted entries on their own time and individually, the no-discussion policy placing stress on creativity solely. This body decides on the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as if an entry has met the pre-determined standard of earning a Grand Prix award, based on two elements: originality of the idea and the quality of the idea's execution. In 2010, Cresta introduced the Network of the Year and Agency of the Year honors, given out to those whose entries meet the highest scores, based on a point breakdown, in all levels of competition. For the three years 2016-18 the overall Network of the Year was McCann.
Awards
For its first 12 years, Cresta held an annual awards ceremony in cities throughout the world, including Budapest, Milan, and New York. It was determined after the 2004 awards that future winners would be announced via an online ceremony, allowing exponentially more participants the chance to view the winners. Following a relaunch in January 2019, Cresta committed to creating educational and inspirational events around the world to further the discussion of creative standards and the award winners. It also announced the launch of an international periodical review dedicated to exploring creative standards. The Cresta statuette is a crystal "S" shape with an embedded metal "C" component, together meant to embody the "Creative Standards" namesake. This component is color-coded in order to reflect the four levels of winners: Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Entries submitted must be "broadcast, published or released in a commercial environment with client approval" according to a specific timeframe, and additionally accompanied by the respective single or campaign entry fees.
