The MUSE Creative and Design Awards, leading competitions that honour creative and design professionals, have released the full list of winners for its second competitive season of 2023. The awards saw more than 10,000 entries submitted from across the world, all vying for a chance to be honoured as a MUSE.

For this competitive season, University Canada West (UCW) walks away victorious with the Advertising – Online Ad (Single) Platinum award for its That’s Boss video, which was created in collaboration with Victoria-based Riptide Studios.

“We are thrilled and honoured to receive a prestigious MUSE Creative Award,” said Midya U, Vice President, Marketing and Communications at UCW. “It is a testament to the dedication and creativity of our talented Marketing and Communications team.”

The MUSE Awards is made up of a series of competitions organized to honour excellence in various fields and industries. In order to guarantee recognition only goes to those who truly deserve it regardless of class or background, IAA ensures that these competitions are kept accessible and fair.

“This season’s works took the team by surprise with the level of quality they were at. The entrants certainly deserve the recognition for all the efforts they had put in,” Thomas Brandt, spokesperson of IAA elaborated. He continued, “these professionals and creatives demonstrate how those who pursue excellence will always thrive, regardless of the changes their industries go through.”

Judging was done by a jury panel which was composed of industry professionals. Thanks to their efforts, IAA was successful in upholding impartiality and implementing industry-relevant assessment criteria. The jury was tasked with identifying companies or individuals whose works exemplified excellence and that had pushed their respective industries forward.

Grand Jury Panel

The awards received jury nominations from 17 countries and ended up with 60 jurors. These professionals are held in high regard in their respective industries and are tied to renowned organizations in the creative and design industries. For example, Lead Consultant at Coldharbour Communications – Jon Meakin, Founder/CCO of Cutwater – Chuck McBride, VP, Brand & Creative Services of PubMatic, Inc. – Imelda Suriato, Associate Creative Director at McCann NY – Alexandre Kazuo Kubo, Group Creative Director at Ogilvy NY – Mohamed DiaaEldin Osman, Principal Architect and Landscape Architect at Studio Arth LLC – Rituparna Simlai, Senior Architect at Tiago do Vale Architects – Tiago do Vale, Director of DesignAware – Takbir Fatima, Founder, hcreates interior design – Hannah Churchill, Founder and Creative Director of IN.X Design – Wu Wei, to name a few.

On top of having industry-relevant standards in the judging process, impartiality was further enforced by using the blind judging method. Effectively, each entry was evaluated by multiple judges without being compared to other submissions. In this scenario, every work could only win based on their own merits.

Participation of International Brands

Thanks to IAA’s global presence, the MUSE Creative and Design Awards received entries that included names of globally prominent organizations. Some submissions were made directly by said companies, while others were submitted by entrants who had produced work for them. For direct submissions, familiar names such as Paramount Global, Mastercard, Marriott International, Inc., Explainly, Savannah College of Art and Design, T Brand Studio/New York Times Advertising, United Nations Peacekeeping, International Monetary Fund, NORC at the University of Chicago, VICE Media Group, Leroy & Rose, Leo Burnett Malaysia, The Narrative Group, Vanpin Design, Chery Automobile Co. , Ltd., Guangzhou S.P.I Design, Archer Aviation, Natuzzi Italia, Kao (China) Research & Development Center Co., Ltd., Hugo Eccles, China University of Technology/ShiuanYuan Group, M&A Creative Agency, and Zippo (China) Outdoor Products Co., Ltd. were present; whereas indirect submissions included The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia), Uber Eats, KFC Canada, Volkswagen AG, Saudi Ministry of Culture, Funcom, Unilever, SIEMENS Mobility GmbH, General Motors, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s (China), Hartness Holdings, CHAGEE, vivo, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Lobos 1707, Da Long Yi, and China Railway Engineering Corporation.

“The winners of this season are undoubtedly some of the best talents the industries have to offer and it makes us proud to be able to honour these people for all their hard work,” Thomas said. “As they continue to express themselves in their works and push forward in excellence, we will certainly remain here to be a platform to spotlight their talents.”

Published on October 17, 2023.