About

• Background
• What's with the name?
• How much does it cost to enter?
• How does the process work?
• Live Event when & where?

Background

The Chip Shop Awards is about fostering and recognising creativity with no boundaries and no rules. It's an international creative awards, open to anyone with great ideas.

Since its launch in 2002, these awards have produced some of the cleverest, funniest, worst taste advertising and design ever seen.

One of the best ways to establish creative reputation is to win awards. But for those starting out in the business, meeting the rules of the 'normal' awards schemes can be difficult - you need to meet criteria such as minimum media spend, dates that work ran, proof that your client approved it.

Sometimes creatives have broken or bent these rules in order to win major awards. But this can lead to embarrassment for the winner and for the award scheme, so the enforcement of rules has become much tighter.

The Chip Shop Awards is there to recognise that the best ideas don't always fall within the rules. This is a worldwide advertising and design competition that has no rules.

The skills of creative people are rare and therefore of high value. However, on-going creativity needs to be worked at and nurtured. The Chip Shop Awards is about doing just that, on a worldwide stage.

The Chips is all about ideas. Your work does not have to have been broadcast, printed or mailed. The Clients doesn't have to be yours. You just need a brilliant idea.

Entering the Chips is open all year - so as soon as you have a great idea that your client rejected, or you couldn't present to your client, or for someone else's client, you can enter online. Your work will be displayed online throughout the year.

Early each year, we make a formal call for entries, ready for judging will take place in the spring. The judges are always creative heavyweights from around the world.

Shortly afterwards we'll announce the nominations online, promoting them to everyone who's joined The Chip Shop Awards.

The awards presentation takes place in June.

What's with the name?

In the 1980s, two young creatives based in Manchester, England, were desperate to establish their reputation as serious advertising creatives. Of course the best way to do this is to win creative awards. For that you need to have some clients and, unfortunately for these two creatives, they didn't have any.

To overcome this problem they came up with the idea of doing brilliant creative work for a client for free and then using the work to win themselves some awards.

The client they chose was a fast food shop selling the great British dish of "fish and chips" in the north of Wales. Barnacles was just an ordinary local takeaway but before long it had an advertising campaign that would be the envy of many business owners.

The plan was very effective for the creative team. Their excellent work caught the eye of the top creative directors who were judging the entries to various awards schemes and they won trophies at the D&AD Awards, the Campaign Awards and the Roses Awards.

This established their reputation in the business and after that they never looked back. One of them went on to build one of the most successful independent agencies in England and recently sold it to an international agency network.

Now the Chip Shop Awards offers creatives or wannabe creatives the chance to demonstrate the strength of their ideas - without the need to follow any rules.

How much does it cost to enter?

We offer an early Bird rate at a 20% discount for all entries submitted before and including the 20th January.

Standard Price: First entry is £99 each additional entry is £65

Freelance & Students: £49 each

prices listed are excluded of VAT

How does the process work?

2012 entries close on 16th March and after this date the judging panel will meet to decide who this year's finalists are.

The nominations will be announced w/c 23rd April and tickets to the live event will be made shortly after.

Our team of judges will then decide the awards, which will be announced at the live event...

Live Event when & where?

The 'Chip' and 'Vinegar' awards will be announced and handed out at the awards do being held in June in London.

Date: TBC June 2012
Venue: will be announced once entries close.
Time: 7.30pm - 11pm
Dress code: casual

It's not black tie, nor is it sitting round a table at a formal do, it's a party, a celebration and a chance to get together with some great creative people.