Print Honors Go to Richards, DDB, GSD&M

DALLAS The Richards Group, DDB, and GSD&M have picked up Athena Awards, which recognize excellence in newspaper advertising. The Newspaper Association of America presented the awards at The One Club for Art and Copy in New York on Wednesday.

Richards in Dallas won a gold for work it created for Central Market. The ad featured a mushroom that was decorated with drawings to make it look like a spacecraft. Copy says, “We’re Heeeeere!” and gives the new store’s location. Creative directors Dennis Walker and Ron Henderson, art director Linsey Bertrams, copywriter Jack Westerholt and producer Debbie Stephens developed the work.

Richards also picked up a bronze for its campaign for the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, which was designed to look like it was created in the 1800s through design elements and discolored paper. Copy reads, “Tracks disappeared. Engines shut down. Technology moved on. Yet somehow the fires still burn. The night train exhibit now open.” Credits include: Glenn Dady, creative director; Jimmy Bonner, art director; Rob Baker, copywriter; and Kathleen Pendergast, producer.

Omnicom’s GSD&M in Austin, Texas, picked up a gold for a campaign it created for the Ad Council on behalf of the Americans for the Arts organization. It also picked up a gold and silver for individual spots of the campaign. Each of the four print ads focuses on a cultural pioneer—musician Louis Armstrong, composer Tchaikovsky, dancer Martha Graham and painter Caravaggio. They center on the idea that people who do not receive an arts education may be confused about the accomplishments of the figures. One spot, for instance, begins, “Why people think Louis Armstrong was the first man on the moon.”

Creative directors for the work are David Crawford and Jeremy Postaer, who has since left the agency. Kristen Hanson and Brett Stiles are the art directors, Gerard Siefert and Michael Buss are the copywriters, and Nancy Kirsch is the producer.

Omnicom’s DDB in Dallas won a silver for its McIlhenny Co. Tabasco campaign, which has garnered numerous awards since it began in December 2001, including a bronze Lion at Cannes in 2002. The campaign features variations of the product’s diamond-shaped bottle label that use humorous copy to feature the distinctiveness of a flavor while stressing the sauce’s heat. Creative directors for the work are Steve Sweitzer and Carl Warner, who has since left the agency. Kathleen Larkin Redick is the art director, Julie Bowman the copywriter and Kathy Tomlin the producer.