By Staff, April 12, 2006
Entries for the fourth annual Entertainment Packaging "Alex" Awards, the premier competition honoring creative excellence in home entertainment media packaging, are now being accepted.
The Alex Awards ceremony, scheduled for Aug. 9 at the Universal City Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on the closing night of the Entertainment Media Expo (EMX) , again will be hosted by Craig Braun, the veteran packaging designer behind such legendary album covers as the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers.”
The awards, open to movie, music and game labels, producers, manufacturers, package vendors and distributors, are named in honor of Alex Steinweiss, who designed the first album cover for Columbia Records in 1939.
This year's competition includes several new categories. “Best Limited Edition DVD Package” is designed to recognize the extreme high-end of collector’s edition packaging, while the first package designs for high-definition HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc products will be honored. The program’s Entertainment Software category has been divided into three classifications: console platforms, handheld gaming devices and computer platforms. Other new categories, such as Best Structural Design, Best Disc Decoration and Best Package Printing, highlight the individual components that make an entertainment media package stand out at retail or on the consumer’s home shelf
. Individuals and companies will be recognized for outstanding achievement in the following categories:
Best DVD Package, single- or double-disc
Best DVD Package, multi-disc
Best Limited Edition DVD package
Best High-Definition package, HD DVD
Best High-Definition package, Blu-ray Disc
Best Standard CD Package, illustrated cover (single- or double-disc)
Best Standard CD Package, photo cover (single- or double-disc)
Best Alternative CD Package (single- or double-disc, non-jewel-case)
Best CD Boxed Set (multi-disc)
Best Vinyl Record Package
Best Entertainment Software Package, console platforms
Best Entertainment Software Package, handheld devices
Best Entertainment Software Package, computer platforms
Best Structural Design (audio, video or game package)
Best Disc Decoration (CD, DVD, high definition disc or game)
Best Package Printing (audio, video or game package)
Best Promotional CD or DVD, marketing
Best Promotional CD or DVD, music/movie trade
Best Entertainment Retail Marketing Materials
The submissions will be judged by panels of entertainment and media packaging designers and art directors in New York and Los Angeles. Finalists in each of the categories will be announced approximately one month prior to the Aug. 9 ceremony, with trophies presented to winners by Mr. Braun at the gala event. In addition, conferred awards will be presented by the event’s producers and other participants. Previous Lifetime Achievement recipients include Jim Ladwig, the Grammy winning package designer, creator of the Digipak and a founding partner of AGI (2005), and Alex Steinweiss, the world’s foremost entertainment media package designer (2003).
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