The MUSE Creative and Design Awards, leading competitions that honor creative and design professionals, have released the list of winners for its second competitive season of 2023. The awards saw as many as 6,500 entries submitted from across the world, all vying for a chance to be honored as a MUSE.
For this competitive season, Nanjing Mingfa New City Center walks away victorious with the Gold Winner of Mix Use Architectural Designs award to their name. The work that earned Gold Winner this landmark victory was created by (Mi Chen) for (Mingfa Group).
The MUSE Awards comprise a collection of contests designed to celebrate outstanding achievements across diverse fields and industries. To ensure that recognition is awarded solely based on merit, irrespective of social class or background, IAA maintains the accessibility and fairness of these competitions.
“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, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Cutwater, along with Chuck McBride, the Vice President of Brand & Creative Services at PubMatic, Inc., as well as Imelda Suriato, who serves as the Associate Creative Director at McCann NY, and Alexandre Kazuo Kubo, the Group Creative Director at Ogilvy NY, and Mohamed DiaaEldin Osman, the Principal Architect and Landscape Architect at Studio Arth LLC, and Rituparna Simlai, who holds the position of Senior Architect at Tiago do Vale Architects, and Tiago do Vale himself, who is the Director of DesignAware, along with Takbir Fatima, the Founder of hcreates interior design, and Hannah Churchill, the Founder and Creative Director of IN.X Design, and Wu Wei, to mention just a few notable individuals.
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
IAA’s worldwide reach played a crucial role in attracting entries from internationally renowned organizations to the MUSE Creative and Design Awards. These submissions included both direct contributions from these organizations and entries from individuals who had produced work for them. For direct submissions, familiar names such as Paramount Global, Mastercard, 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, 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, Funcom, Unilever, SIEMENS Mobility GmbH, General Motors, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s (China), Hartness Holdings, CHAGEE, vivo, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, 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 honor 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.”