Our marketing and creative services team is proud to announce our award-winning entries from the work we did in 2020. 151 media companies submitted 2,440 entries into the yearly and prestigious New York Press Association (New York Advertising and Marketing Excellence) Awards Competition. Participating companies competed for 473 awards in 64 categories.

As a team, we took home 1st place in the prestigious and coveted John J. Evans Award for Advertising Excellence – a statewide honor. This was the second year in a row winning this award. We’re fortunate for all the amazing clients we have and we’re thankful for all the projects were able to work on in a year that wasn’t easy. With that said, we were able to dig deep and get extra creative in developing some opportunistic projects.

Below is a recap of all the awards we 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. First place awards were won for Best Innovative Ad Project, Best House Ad/Ad Campaign, Best Large Space Ad, Best Small Space Ad, Best Online Static Ad and Best Multi-Advertiser Pages. There were also 14 other awards given for second place, third place and honorable mentions.

Best Innovative Ad Project

1st Place – Kayleigh Tarbet (Cannon Pools and Spas)

  • The judges said “Great layout with spacing, color, and photos.”

Honorable Mention – Lea Gonyea and Lindsay Marlenga (Company Holiday Card)

A simplistic but effective branding style guide created for Cannon Pools & Spas which should help their creative stay uniform for years to come.

Instead of a traditional holiday card, we sent out this virtual online greeting instead.

Best Online Dynamic Ad

2nd Place – Kayleigh Tarbet (Aberdeen Regional Airport (ABR))

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

A simple but effective way to communicate the airport’s three-letter code while encouraging users to fly local.

Best Targeted Email

3rd Place – Matt Sourwine (Olum’s)

  • The judges said “Appealing layout. Comprehensive topics showing a number of offerings for a variety of consumers.”

This email features simple but eye-catching motion at the top where Olum’s logo is. This email also acts as a gateway to various pages within their website during a time where these products where highly sought after.

Best House Ad/Ad Campaign

1st Place – Karen Sherwood (Syracuse.com Orange Insider)

  • The judges said “The ad campaign is a powerful as Syracuse basketball! Well done”

2nd Place – Lea Gonyea, Kayleigh Tarbet, Matt Sourwine (In-house promo video)

  • The judges said “When you are trying to sell marketing services, it certainly helps to have an amazingly well-executed campaign like this one to strut your stuff.”

3rd Place – Matt Sourwine and Lindsay Marlenga (CNY Non-Profit Wish List)

  • The judges said “Eye-catching ads and direct to the point with the message.”

Honorable Mention – Matt Sourwine and Lea Gonyea (Local Journalism is Essential)

A highly-effective campaign that promoted Syracuse.com’s award-winning Syracuse University coverage.

A promotional video that communicated our company’s offerings for prospective businesses.

A marketing campaign and a landing page we developed on our website that collected and showcased the needs of various nonprofits in our community. We ended up collecting wish lists from 71 nonprofits!

A marketing campaign that explained the important role that journalism plays in our community while featuring the entire content team.

Best Large Space Print Ad

1st Place – Matt Sourwine (Clark Equipment)

  • The judges said “This ad is a great example of strong design, from the photo and headline to the images of the employees to even being able to incorporate a call to action and not coming off insensitive”

3rd Place – Matt Sourwine (Local Journalism is Essential)

  • The judges said “Visually striking layout and imagery”

Honorable Mention – Lea Gonyea (Clark Equipment)

  • The judges said “Great idea for engaging the readers and incorporating the brand and product into the contest.”

A full-page ad that featured a client who gave thanks to healthcare professionals in CNY within a full-page print newspaper ad.

An ad that featured every employee from our content team and promoted the importance of local journalism.

A full-page print ad space that featured a mother’s day coloring contest centered around heavy equipment – which related to the sponsoring client.

Best Small Space Print Ad

1st Place – Kayleigh Tarbet (Cannon Pools and Spas)

  • The judges said “Cannon Pools & Spas found a winner with this ad. There is a lot of info included in this copy, but it is spaced nicely to avoid feeling “busy.” The bright colors and images are sure to grab the reader’s attention and showing price-points provides a valuable call to action. It gives the feeling of a vacation on the page, which is exactly what I imagine they were striving for. Bravo! “

2nd Place – Matt Sourwine (Alzheimer’s Association)

  • The judges said “The ad for Alzheimer’s Association paints a powerful message with both language and visuals that blend together to make for a very appealing finished product. Excellent work!”

3rd Place – Lea Gonyea (Stanley Law)

  • The judges said “This ad for Stanley Law strikes a nice balance of images, text, and contact details. The bold colors are sure to stand out on the page, and the images tie-in seamlessly with content. The text tells a story without being too wordy, and all contact info is easy to follow. Nice job!”

A fun ad that promoted making memories in a pool during a time where they were highly sought after.

A quarter-page print ad that ran during the middle of the pandemic for the Alzheimer’s Association of CNY.

A quarter-page print ad that ran during the middle of the pandemic for Stanley Law.

Best Online Static Ad

1st Place – Matt Sourwine (Helio Health)

  • The judges said “Clean and compelling – color is a standout”

3rd Place – Kayleigh Tarbet (Fly Kearney)

  • The judges said “Fabulous design – great job. Very classy.”

A set of online banner ads that promoted Helio Health and their recent merger.

A set of online banner ads for an airport in Nebraska that featured a strong headline and contained health and safety messaging.

Best Multi-Advertiser Page(s)

1st Place – Matt Sourwine and Katie Wegerski (Thank You Nurses Coloring Page)

  • The judges said “Supported by cute imagery, this campaign is deceptive in the value it provides to its supporters. The appearance on the page is just the beginning of the value it offers; as the promotion continues and advertisers appear in community windows, their logos will reach an audience far beyond the original readership. “

A full-page newspaper ad that gave thanks to healthcare workers in a fun way. It was a coloring page and it was encouraged to be hung in people’s windows. There were five sponsoring companies behind this initiative.

Blooper of the Year

2nd Place – Kayleigh Tarbet (ALL-CNY HS Sports Awards)

  • The judges said “Fun blooper reel.”

3rd Place – AMNY Marketing Team (Virtual Halloween Image)

  • The judges said “Fun Halloween photos.”

A blooper video that featured Syracuse.com’s Brent Axe. He was in the middle of filming for the virtual ALL-CNY HS Sports Awards.

A virtual look at our marketing team’s ability to dress up like the characters on Beetlejuice on Halloween in 2020.

The entries were judged by members of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association.

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.