Singapore , 3 November 2006 – More than 900 people from agencies, advertisers and media turned up in full force at the Ritz Carlton Millenia tonight; as the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As) announced the winners of the 26 th Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA)

Unlike previous years where there is one Gong for the Best of Show, this year each discipline had an equal chance of taking home their own Best of Show Gong.

“The reason for doing this was to respect each discipline with equal regard. It also gives each discipline a chance to be judged by its own peers ,” said Robert Gaxiola, Chairman of CCA 2006.

Saatchi & Saatchi's "Monsters" campaign for AWARE won the Advertising Gong and was also a strong contender in numerous categories, taking home three (3) Golds for Print - Community Service & Charity; Print Craft – Copywriting; and Print Craft – Photography & Image Manipulation.

Black Design won the Design Gong for their “20/20 Exhibition” piece for Design Singapore Council, while Jonathan Yuen's website won the Interactive Gong.

Advertising judge, Steve Dunn of JWT London commented, “When I first came here 12 years ago, there were a lot of good things, but essentially there was still a little bit of naivety about some of the work. It had potential then.  Today it's fully arrived and I think it's really just some of the best work in the world.”

“I'm definitely blown by the standard in print & outdoor,” added advertising judge, Abhijit Avasthi of Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai.

“I think the standards were really, really high and it's an international level,” said Design judge, Imin Pao, founder of Pao and Paws Taiwan. He also gave this advice to all agencies, “When you get into this business, don't just work for the clients, also work for yourselves. Be partners with clients, so you're not just offering advertising and design services to them, but you also work with them extensively to build better product(s).”

The Singapore Creative Circle Awards celebrates and honours top creative talents in the advertising and communication industry in Singapore . Since 1980, the CCA has been instrumental in pushing creativity to the edge and in the process raise the creative bar year after year.

“Last year, we celebrated 25 years of the Creative Circle Awards.  Now we aim to build on that success. And we can't do so without embracing creativity across the board. Creativity that uses all our talents and all of our cross-disciplinary skills to build our brands in Singapore , Asia , and in some cases, the world,” said Gaxiola. “We must keep innovating. Keep creating. Keep pushing ourselves forward and getting better at what we do. The same principles will still apply, but the canvas is now a lot bigger, ” he added.

A total of 1,655 entries were received this year as compared to 1,530 entries last year. This represents an 8% increase over the last event and is the second highest record in the history of CCA.

Four specialist judging panels were appointed this year to cover each discipline - Advertising, Design, Direct Marketing and Interactive. The CCA entries were judged by 7 international and 29 local judges representing some of the industry's most esteemed creative directors, producers and designers who are behind some of the most successful campaigns.

The judges were exempted from voting for any award within a category where their agency was represented.

Media Contact: Sarah Tang, Phone: 6836-0600, Email: sarah@4as.org.sg

About the Singapore Creative Circle Awards (CCA)
Since 1980, the Creative Circle Awards (CCA) has been instrumental in pushing creativity to the edge and in the process raising the creative bar year after year. Over the past years, CCA have challenged local industry professionals and helped Singapore grow its reputation as one of the world leaders for print advertising. The winning entries bear testimony to the high standards that CCA is known for and most of our top award winners have gone on to capture awards in international shows such as Cannes International Advertising Festival, Clio Awards, The One Show, D&AD and many others.

Organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As), the awards encompasses all aspects of creative communications with awards given out in four major disciplines - Advertising, Design, DM & Promo and Interactive.

The award presentation or more popularly known as The Gong Show is a well celebrated event of the Singapore ad industry. As the Oscars of the industry, it has consistently attracted some 1,000 people coming together each year to celebrate and recognize the creativity and craftsmanship of our top advertising talents.

(About 4As (Association of Accredited Advertising Agents, Singapore)
The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore was founded in 1948. Better known as the 4As, this non-profit trade association represents advertising and marketing communications practitioners, agencies and related businesses in Singapore. The 4As works in close co-operation with other related trade associations, schools and government bodies to nurture talent and to improve the stature and prominence of the advertising and marketing communications industry. Among the key events organised and promoted by the 4As are the Singapore Creative Circle Awards or the Gong Show; the Students Creative Awards, commonly known as The Crowbars; and the Singapore Media Awards.