ADC launches ADC Young Guns 9 Competition

ADC Young Guns is claimed to be the only international, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies today's vanguard of young creatives, and is open to both ADC members and non-members. Last year's competition drew entries from 38 countries, with 47% of registrations coming from outside the US A total of 50 winners are selected each year by a jury of past ADC Young Guns.

The program is open internationally to creatives age 30 and under who have been working for at least two years, full-time or freelance. Eligible entrants can submit a combination of professional and personal work in graphic design, photography, illustration, advertising and art direction, environmental design, film, animation, video, interactive design, object design and typography. Full details are available at www.adcyoungguns.org.

Online entries will be accepted starting on 15 March 2011 (entry fee: US$135, US$110 if submitted by the early bird deadline of 18 April), with a final deadline of 16 May 2010. Late entries will be accepted through midnight EST 30 May 2011, but subject to the addition of a US$35 late fee.

The ADC Young Guns 9 printed and online call for entries have been designed by Nessim Higson (YG5, www.iamalwayshungry.com), using a dark "secret society" and graphic "Fight Club"-type theme to express the message that "creatives fight for their work, now it's time it battles for you." The CFE features heavily made up, battered and bruised images of 10 past ADC Young Guns - Jessica Hische, James Victore, Rodrigo Corral, Julia Hoffmann, Jennifer Daniel, Jayson Atienza, Sam Weber, Sarah Wilmer, Greg Brunkalla and Jonathan Jackson - who have fought for their work, taken by photographer Brady Fontenot (bradyfontenot.com/).

The creative process is a battle," said Olga Grisaitis, director, ADC. "This includes the initial inner struggle to come up with the concept, fighting for an idea through the politics of an agency, and the difficulties of dealing with client approvals. This year's ADC Young Guns competition recognises how shepherding ideas along the road to reality can be painful for creatives, and will award 50 entrants who successfully withstand those battles and deliver great work."

Past ADC Young Guns include then-rising stars who went on to become leaders in their chosen fields, including ADC board member Rei Inamoto (interactive), Stefan Sagmeister and James Victore (graphic design), Deanne Cheuk (illustration), Jeremy Floto and Cassandra Warner (aka floto+warner, photography), Alexander Gelman (advertising), Mike Mills (film and video), Alex Trochut (typography), Todd St. John (animation) and others.

All 50 ADC Young Guns 9 winners receive the following:

• A unique version of the iconic ADC Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year's incoming class;
  
• Their work featured in an exhibition at the ADC Gallery in New York;
  
• Their work included in the ADC Young Guns 9 Annual;
  
• Their work added to the ADC permanent online collection;
  
• Complimentary one-year ADC membership;
  
• Permanent membership in ADC Young Guns Network, and the chance to be featured in YG events and on www.adcyoungguns.org;
  
• An assortment of career-boosting opportunities from ADC Young Guns sponsors.

ADC Young Guns 9 jurors, who are all past ADC Young Guns winners, are as follows:

• Tracy Boychuk, founder and creative director, Runner Collective, Chicago, IL (YG1)
  
• Marc Cozza, principal and creative director, CO, Portland, OR (YG1)
  
• Benita Raphan, designer and faculty at SVA, New York, NY (YG2)
  
• Luke Hayman, partner, Pentagram, New York, NY (YG2)
  
• Vincent LaCava, game designer, This is Pop, New York, NY (YG3)
  
• Natasha Jen, multidisciplinary designer, Njenworks, New York, NY (YG4)
  
• Clay Weiner, commercial director, Los Angeles, CA (YG4)
  
• Anh Tuan Pham, graphics, interactive, For Office Use Only, New York, NY (YG4)
  
• Chris Rubino, art director, designer, Brooklyn, NY (YG5)
  
• Christopher Lane, photographer, Jersey City, NJ (YG5)
  
• Eva Kolenko, photographer, Oakland, CA (YG5)
  
• Philippe PJ Richardson, commercial/music video director, Laundry!, Los Angeles, CA (YG5)
  
• Morris Lee, art director, Momorobo, Montreal, Canada (YG6)
  
• Josh Cochran, illustrator, Brooklyn, NY (YG6)
  
• Philipp Hubert, creative director, Visiotypen, New York, NY (YG6)
  
• Craig Ward, typographer, Words are Pictures, New York, NY (YG6)
  
• Lindsay Ballant, art director, multidisciplinary designer, Brooklyn, NY (YG7)
  
• Qian Qian, interactive design director, CP+B, Boulder, CO (YG7)
  
• Timothy Goodman, designer, art director, San Francisco, CA (YG7)
  
• Bianca Wendt, art director, designer, Bianca Wendt Ltd, London, UK (YG7)
  
• Sylvain Dumais, photographer, motion graphics, Montreal, Ontario, Canada (YG7)
  
• Nina Boesch, senior interaction designer, And Partners, New York, NY (YG7)
  
• Tomas Mankovsky, director, creative, Blink, London, UK (YG8)
  
• Jessica Walsh, art director, designer, illustrator, New York, NY (YG8)
  
• Mark Ward, illustrator, London, UK (YG8)
  
• Ian Wharton, creative director and partner, Zolmo, London, UK (YG8)
  
• Kris Sowersby, typographer, Klim Type Foundry, Wellington, New Zealand (YG8)
  
• Micah Lidberg, illustrator, Kansas City, MO (YG8)
  
• Mads Jakob Poulsen, senior designer, Wolff Olins, New York, NY (YG8)
  
• Yannis Konstantinidis, motion graphics, designer, Nomint Motion Design (YG8)
  
• Daihei Shibata, designer, motion graphics, WOW, Inc., Tokyo, Japan (YG8)
  
• Gareth O'Brien, motion graphics, G'Raffe, Brooklyn, NY (YG8).

ADC Young Guns 9 celebration 24 March, featuring live music from Nihiti

To celebrate the kick-off the club will host launch party on 24 March 2011, 7-10pm, at the ADC Gallery, 106 West 29th Street, New York. Admission is free to ADC members, US$20 for non-members, beer and food will be available. For details and tickets, please visit www.adcglobal.org/adc/events/calendar.

For full details and to enter ADC Young Guns 9, go to www.adcyoungguns.org/.