• by Joe Mandese , October 1, 2012

USA Today may have just relaunched its digital editions with spiffy new "responsive" designs, but it's not exactly giving up on good, old-fashioned print -- at least where advertising is concerned. The paper this morning unveiled the "2012 USA Today Print Advertising Competition," giving advertisers, agencies and non-profits a chance to win "up to" $1 million in full-page print advertising in, you guessed it, USA Today.

The paper said the ads can be part of a new or existing campaig, and will be judged based on three criteria:  creativity and originality of advertisement, visual storytelling and clarity of writing.

Ads will be judged by industry execs including: Andrew Essex, CEO, Droga5; Chip Kidd, designer/writer, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Sean McLaughlin, creative director, Wieden + Kennedy; Chuck Porter, chairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Ty Montague, co-founder and co-CEO, Co Collective and Michael Wolff, media columnist, USA Today.  Larry Kramer, president and publisher of USA Todayh and Maryam Banikarim, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Gannett Co., Inc. are the executive sponsors of the competition.

Entries will be accepted from Oct.8 to Nov. 26. The Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up will be announced in January 2013 and the winning ad will appear in USA Today in 2013. For information on how to submit an entry and complete details, go to www.usatoday.com/printcompetition.