Ad agency Bates Singapore has won the top prize at the Singapore Press Holdings Ink Awards 2007, which honours excellence in print advertising developed in Singapore.

The award ceremony was held at the Raffles Hotel's Jubilee Hall last night, with more than 300 guests from the ad industry in attendance.

Bates took the Grand Prix award for their campaign for Gill Divers, a scuba diving centre, beating off 44 other ad and media agencies. Titled "Bag Fish, Umbrella Fish and Bottle Fish", the campaign was published in bilingual newspaper "my paper" and was hailed by the 10 judges for the creative use of Japanese fish printing technique to illustrate the damage to the marine ecosystem. (See below for the winning campaign)

In the runner-up spot was the Chinese edition of the Ink Awards ad campaign that called for entries for the competition. This meant the top line-up of Gold medal winners were all Chinese ads - proof that language is no barrier to the appreciation of creativity.

For winning the Grand Prix and two Golds, Bates received $20,000 cash while Gill Divers will get full-page full-colour ad spaces in SPH's flagship newspapers The Straits Times or Lianhe Zaobao. It is the second year in a row that Bates' executive creative director Robert Gaxiola has won the Grand Prix.

The most awarded agency is DDB Worldwide, which bagged 8 awards, mostly for works to advertise retailer Robinsons and Co.

Newspaper readers got their chance to play judge as well, in the Readers' Choice contest. More than 10,000 votes were received online and through SMS. Graphikate's "Don't Get Pets on Impulse" for the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) won the hearts of readers and beat the competition hands-down. It is the second year in a row an AVA campaign has won the Readers' Choice award.

In a clear signal of industry support, a total of 45 ad and media agencies participated in the SPH Ink Awards. Of the 287 entries, which is a 60% increase from last year, 37 were short-listed as finalists. Ink Awards chairman Mr James Heng said, "We are very heartened by the increase in support for the awards, which is into its third year.

"Special thanks go out to the distinguished panel of judges. Being top professionals in creative, media and marketing, they lend a holistic perspective when selecting the best work," he added.

Being synonymous with print advertising locally, SPH, with the support of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore, pioneered the Ink Awards to drive local advertising excellence in print.

All entries were published in SPH newspapers and magazines from May 2006 to April 2007.

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Bag Fish

Umbrella Fish

Bottle Fish