26 February: In striving to maintain the high creative standards that the Creative Circle Awards (CCA) have established so far, the 4As will continue to be vigilant and stringent in reviewing and refining the entry and judging processes.

Last year, several changes were implemented to tighten up rules to remove scam work. The entry categories were reviewed and collapsed or deleted
where necessary, and gold was made more precious by limiting one award per sub-category. For the first time, separate ranking tables were created to recognize the growth and strength of the other creative disciplines beyond advertising and also a separate ranking table for craft to give it more recognition. Finally in the quest to bring the client community closer, the Client's Choice was created, allowing clients to pick their favourite ads and share why they appeal to them.

Following the Gong Show, the 4As Creative Advisory Panel (CAP) had a post-show meeting to review the implementation of the changes and to discuss feedback gathered at the show.

Although a lot of progress was made last year, there is still a need to fine-tune as CCA moves forward, particularly in the area of entry submissions and verifications.

In 2008, the following will apply:-

1. Entry Submission & Verification

1.1 Size of Entries
. Print ads submitted must be the same size as the actual ad (subject to a maximum size of A2).
. Posters and all other entries must not be bigger than A2.

1.2 Verification
. Print entries - strictly by tear-sheets, attached to the back of the board.
. TVC entries - verification by media schedule
. Poster entries - verification by media schedule, except for non-paid media (by client's letter and photo of the location of the ad)

2. Innovation Gong
. Launched in 2007, the Innovation Gong award replaces the Best Use of Media category.
. It is media neutral and awarded to a breakthrough idea, one that is inspiring, innovative and has never been done before.
. The practice of awarding one winner only will continue. No medals (gold, silver or bronze) will be given out.
. As this award will evolve over time with the changing media landscape, CAP will review the judging criteria from time to time.

3. Clients' Choice
. The Clients' Choice segment will continue to encourage advertisers/clients' participation.
. Medal winners of a selected media category will be reviewed by a group of selected local, regional and international clients. They will then highlight their favourite pieces and comment why the creative idea appeals to them.
. The media choice will be left to the CCA Chairman to choose year on year.

4. Ranking Tables
. Since 2007, CCA has moved away from the Olympic system to a points-based system.
. Separate ranking tables for each media discipline - Advertising, Design, Interactive, Promo/DM - will remain.
. These tables do not include craft awards as the focus is on awarding great ideas.

5. Craft
. To continue recognizing the contribution of the craft industry, separate ranking tables will remain.
. Craft should be entered by craft people.

6. Agency of the Year
. The Agency of the Year award was introduced to recognise the overall agency performance at the show from all four media disciplines (excluding craft) and given to the agency that accumulates the most points at the show.

Award Type	Points
Finalist	1
Bronze	5
Silver	10
Gold	20
The Innovation Gong	20
Best of Show Gong	40 (20+20)

7. The Gong Show
There is also a need to improve the entertainment level of the night and reduce the length to a more enjoyable evening. Although 45 minutes was shaved off as compared to the previous year, it was still deemed too long. Hence, the 4As will explore the bundling of awards by campaigns to reduce the duration of the show. That means, if an entry or campaign wins multiple medals in different sub-categories within the same media discipline, all medals will be awarded to the agency/company at the same time. More details will follow later.