ICAD Awards 2022
Are You Up For It?
Two weeks ago ICAD helped clear the dust off the stage in Whelans, inspirational speakers provided an audience with a frame of reference against what it takes to step up to the next level in the creative industry, after which confetti cannons were dispersed amongst the crowd for a moment planned to synchronise the launch of our 2022 awards programme. Too many gins and not enough chips meant those cannons went off sporadically, without warning, and whilst that moment was not what we had planned, it happened in its own way nonetheless. That’s ICAD. What are you going to do?
This morning we actioned payment of a deposit against a space in Dublin that was once a glorious fruit warehouse which for two days and nights this summer will become our home. On Thursday the 9th of June – come hell or high water – we will conclude this year’s programme. This years awards will be part of a two day festival that has been designed to address the challenges our collective creative industries will face in the strange new landscape we have been left with after a pandemic that seemed to take away so much; yet leaves a space to begin anew, to learn, to grow, to be bigger, to be better because that’s what is demanded of us. Covid is in the rear view, the future beckons bright.
Somewhere in your future there’s a stage, a new president’s hand to shake, a confetti cannon, a Bell with your name on it. We can talk of the benefits of ICAD’s award programme, how it serves to fund the work we take most seriously, and our mandate to foster. We can reiterate facts and phrases like not-for-profit, social community, educators, providers, mentors, facilitators; how keeping creative talent in this country through our ongoing work is only possible because of your appetite to compete. Or I can take a leaf out of the book of advertising, admit that it’s nice when your peers say yes, you are good enough, and here’s a lump of metal and a drunken applause in a room full of friends to prove it. Winning at ICAD is not easy and nor should it be, gold is gold and we all want it, but it’s a challenge, a hard challenge and that’s the point: good things don’t come easy… You have to put yourself out there, be your own worst critic, stick your head above the parapet, step up and be judged. Come what may.
Sixty four years after its inception, and for my last time, on behalf of the boards and members of The Institute of Creative Advertising and Design, it is my duty to call once more for your entries. The system is set, the juries selected, the challenge laid down.
So my question to you now is simply, are you up for it?
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A letter written to the ICAD membership by Rossi McAuley, ICAD president.
Begin the entry process here
