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International creative scene in Berlin: Red Dot Gala celebrated in honour of the year’s best achievements

On 6 November 2015, the international creative scene celebrated the best of the best in the communication design industry. On stage at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the proud laureates of the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2015 accepted their awards in the presence of 1,400 guests. Some of the award-winners had a very special reason to celebrate: A total of seven creative projects received the top individual award in the competition, the Red Dot: Grand Prix. The award ceremony was hosted by Professor Dr Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, who guided the audience through the evening in his charismatic and confident manner with the support of the jury members and laudatory speakers.

This year’s Red Dot: Junior Prize, the award for up-and coming designers which has prize money of EUR 10,000 and was sponsored by software firm Adobe, went to Taiwan: Chien-Hsing Chen and Hsuan-Eng Chen from the National Taiwan University of Science & Technology won the award for their app “BlindNavi”. This new app works by imitating how blind people recognise streets, combining multi-sensory messages with known reference points.

One of the winners to take home a Red Dot: Grand Prix was success-laden advertising agency Scholz & Friends for its campaign “Closed for Inventory”. Strichpunkt Design also succeeded once again in unanimously winning over the 27-member Red Dot jury – this time with the annual report for Trumpf GmbH. In the area of packaging, Win Win Packaging Ltd. from Finland scored points with its unusual beverage design for “This is not Calvados”.

The representatives from the German agency network Leo Burnett, Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2015, were also honoured on stage. The agency’s entire management, comprising Managing Director Andrea Albrecht, Chief Creative Officer Andreas Pauli and Chief Financial Officer Norbert Knapp, accepted the “Stylus” challenge cup on stage in person. Prominent design personalities from LG Electronics, Red Dot: Brand of the Year 2015, came all the way from South Korea to attend in person, with Design Director Kyoungmo Ahn. accepting the award for this year’s most successful brand.

This year’s musical entertainment was provided by “La Finesse” with their mix of classical and modern music. They brought down the house with their string instruments and played excellent new interpretations of pieces by the great composers. Another high point was the video link from boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko. In a message prepared specially for Red Dot and the whole audience, the reigning world heavyweight champion expressed his thanks for the award granted to his “Klitschko Foundation”. The charity organisation supports disadvantaged children and young people in Ukraine with projects in education and sports to show them a successful way forward.

After the Red Dot Gala, the legendary Designers’ Night started in Berlin’s E-Werk. DJ Chrissi D! from the Ruhr region kept the guests on the dance floor well into the early hours. During the official after-show party, the exhibition “Design on Stage” was also shown, which presented award-winning communication design at an unparalleled level.

For all those who were unable to attend, the 82 winning works by the laureates of Red Dot: Best of the Best and Red Dot: Grand Prix will be on show in the Museum für Kommunikation from 8 November 2015. The exhibition “Best Communication Design – Red Dot Winners Selection 2015”, which also presents all award-winning projects in this year’s Red Dot: Agency of the Year, will run until 10 January 2016.

» Photos of the Red Dot Gala 2015 in Berlin