Our marketing and creative team is proud to announce they won 10 New York State creative awards for work they did in 2021. 132 media companies submitted 2,481 entries into the yearly and prestigious New York Press Association (New York Advertising and Marketing Excellence) Awards Competition. Participating companies competed for 396 awards in 67 categories. The entries were judged by members of the Nebraska Press Association.

As a team, they took home 1st place in the prestigious and coveted John J. Evans Award for Advertising Excellence – a statewide honor. This was the third year in a row winning this award which is an outstanding accomplishment for the team.

Below is a recap of all 10 awards they won from the competition:

John J. Evans Award – Advertising Excellence

1st Place – Advance Media New York’s Marketing & Creative Services Team

Advance Media New York earned the highest number of points in the creative/advertising portion of the contest among all the companies who entered earning us this prestigious award. This is the third consecutive year of earning first place in the total advertising portion of the contest. Accumulating 80 points in the advertising categories, the team earned points for Best Small Space Ad, Best Large Space Ad, Best House Ad (1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards) and Best Innovative Ad Idea.

  • The judges said “Gorgeous, impactful ads. Great new ideas. Wonderful art choices. The bright colors of the ads and unique art capture your attention. Love the simple designs that share message clearly and quickly. You can feel the pride of your team in the ads – well done!”

Best Large Space Ad

2nd Place – Matt Sourwine (Journalism is Essential Ad)

  • The judges said “Gorgeous, impactful ad. Well done. Fingers crossed your readers are paying attention!!”

Honorable Mention – Matt Sourwine (Upstate Nursing Coloring Page Ad)

  • The judges said “Great new idea — and the same idea could be used for multiple clients! Nice!”

Best Small Space Ad

1st Place – Matt Sourwine (syracuse.com BOGO Recruitment Ad)

  • The judges said “Thoughtful messaging, good graphics.”

2nd Place – Matt Sourwine and Nicole Barry (Holistic Blends – Small Business Saturday Ad)

  • The judges said “Clever layout – the bright colors of the ad and unique art really capture your attention.”

An 1/8 page print ad promoting a local business. The illustration of the building in the ad was created by a designer on our team. It was an ad that stood out in the section it ran in.

Best Media Kit/Sales Collateral

3rd Place – Karen Sherwood (NYup.com Summer Travel Guide Promotional Material)

  • The judges said “Strong competitor from the get-go. Love the simple designs that share the message clearly and quickly. The video is outstanding – serves well to attract readers, and the client-facing “opportunities” piece is concise and easy to understand. Very well done”

NYup.com is a sub-brand for The Post-Standard focused on sharing things to do in Upstate New York. This was a summer travel guide that was inserted in The Post-Standard in Summer of 2021.

From its cascading waterfalls and breathtaking high peaks, to its unusual roadside attractions and museums, there are endless road trips and getaways to go on this spring and summer. There’s nature to be explored, cities to be visited and experiences to be had — all in one region.

On NewYorkUpstate.com they recommend the most interesting places to visit and uncover what is truly unique about Upstate NY. We’re proud to live in the region and say that we’ve eaten a few garbage plates in our time, visited “the Grand Canyon of the East” or toured some of the best wineries and breweries.

Our coverage is committed to the region and all it has to offer. As we bring our focus back to the importance of travel and tourism in the region, this special section serves as a reintroduction.

Creative included print ads promoting the section beforehand, after it ran so it could be viewed online, a video and sales material!

Best House Ad/Ad Campaign

1st Place – Matt Sourwine and Lindsay Marlenga (syracuse.com Emmy Award Promotional Campaign)

  • The judges said “You can feel the pride of your team in the ads-. Well done!”

2nd Place – Nicole Barry (Central New York Magazine Promotional Campaign)

  • The judges said “An elegant and classy promotional campaign.”

3rd Place – Matt Sourwine and Lea Gonyea (syracuse.com Best & Brightest Campaign)

  • The judges said “Very well-done campaign. Everything is very cohesive.”

Our content team received its first-ever New York Emmy Award announced during a live-streamed event in New York City back in November.

The four-part video series “Drunk with Power” was part of an investigation into a renegade Alcoholics Anonymous chapter in Syracuse that put its members at risk through controlling and reckless tactics.

Syracuse.com reporters conducted a yearlong investigation and interviewed more than 50 people about the group’s practices. They reviewed 20 hours of publicly available audio recordings of Syracuse Group meetings.

This promotional video was part of our overall marketing efforts in making their accomplishment known to the Central New York region. Local journalism doesn’t just win awards, it drives change and the goal is for people to see the value in our journalism and then subscribe to our content.

Central New York Magazine – Promotional Campaign – A campaign urging people in Central New York to subscribe to our award-winning magazine. It was a multi-channel campaign including video, print and digital creative.

Syracuse.com Best & Brightest – A campaign promoting a new (revenue generating) initiative in recognizing the best and brightest high school students in the area! It was great for our brand image.

Best Innovative Ad Project

3rd Place – Matt Sourwine and Dylan Carpenter (Hofmann’s Meat Madness Bracket Sweepstakes)

  • The judges said “So a giveaway isn’t innovative, but putting a client’s own products against another is a first – let alone when it’s MEAT! I had to do a little searching to clarify the contest, I wish the submission would’ve had screenshots of the contest itself. A great idea!”

A sweepstakes we developed for Hofmann using print and email (innovative revenue generating). We got $2,500 in revenue and received over 4,200 entries! The sweepstakes was voting on a bracket of meat!

Sharon R. Fulmer Award for Community Leadership

1st Place – Karen Sherwood, Tom Brown, Jim Read and Tim Kennedy (‘Old Newsboys’ Hope for the Holidays Christmas Fundraiser Campaign)

  • The judges said “What a great idea/cause! You are making a huge impact!! As newspapers, we don’t always get the best reputations and to do something so humbling is awesome. I loved seeing all of your advertisements, articles and listening to the audio ad (what a great idea)!”

Congratulations to our talent marketing and creative team and thank you to all of our clients for the opportunities you provide us with.

Additionally, if you are in need of marketing or creative services, we’d love to put our talent to work for you! Please reach out to creative@advancemediany.com or use the form on our contact page and one of our marketing experts will follow up with you shortly.