• by Kenneth Fadner , September 5, 2008

Media magazine is pleased to present the finalists in the fifth annual Creative Media Awards competition. The winners will be selected from the finalists in each of the 15 categories you will read about in this special supplement. In addition, the campaign deemed most outstanding overall will win the coveted Best in Show award. All awards will be presented at our Creative Media Awards reception at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22. Tickets to the event are still available. For more information, visit mediapost.com/cma.
Media changes rapidly, but outstanding work is still outstanding work. And in these pages, only those practicing excellence in the craft get a chance for recognition. All of those here are worthy of esteem.
The entries ran the gamut - everything from the most traditional of print campaigns to exciting innovations in experimental and emerging media. The briefs tell the story of how all media have changed to work in concert with and provide effective vehicles for the innovative and cutting-edge work being done around the industry.
Some say media is the new creative. Here at MediaPost, we live those words every day. The Creative Media Awards illustrate our belief that the process of buying, planning and strategizing media is every bit as creative as rendering storyboards. It is this belief that fuels our commitment to the media process, from ideation to strategy and implementation. These awards recognize that drive.
Of course, not just anybody can separate the best work amidst all the worthwhile and impressive entries. The job of choosing the winners of the Creative Media Awards falls to our esteemed panel of judges, who will select from among the finalists you read about in these pages. (Judges are prohibited from judging their own work.)
We hope you'll join us when we name the winners and toast all the finalists at the Creative Media Awards reception on Sept. 22. Fittingly, the party takes place on the same day as Media magazine's "The Future of Media" forum (mediapost.com/thefuture), which kicks off Advertising Week in New York City and coincides with a special double-size issue of Media. Moderated by special guest editor Bob Guiccione Jr. (former editor and publisher of Spin, Gear and Discover), the special edition and forum will be global in coverage and explore the possibilities, problems and the shape of media in the near and distant future.
Again, congratulations to all the finalists, and many thanks to all who entered.