SINGAPORE, 5 July 2004 - To honour and give recognition to the best in print advertisements and raise awareness of creativity in the advertising industry, media group Singapore Press Holdings today announced that it will launch the SPH Ink Awards, which are open to all advertisements published in SPH newspapers and magazines.

The awards will be an annual, year-long competition, culminating in an industry-wide gala event at which the winners will be announced.

The SPH Ink Awards serves as another platform for SPH to engage advertising agencies and clients on a regular basis and strengthen the already close bonds, as well as foster creative print advertising.

Said Mr Tham Khai Wor, Senior Executive Vice President of Marketing: "There are many hidden talents out there at the agencies who can produce excellent creative work in print advertising. And there is no better way than using the SPH Ink Awards to promote the spirit of creativity and drive advertising excellence in Singapore."

Ad agencies can compete in 11 categories of awards. All entries must originate from Singapore and they must have appeared in any of the 14 SPH newspapers and six magazines listed in the entry forms.

There will be two qualifying periods - from 16 September 2003 to 20 August 2004 and from 25 September 2004 to 14 March 2005. Shortlisted advertisements will be featured in SPH newspapers, with credits given to the agencies.

The Grand Prix winner - the highest award - will get a pair of tickets, with accommodation, to the Cannes Lions 2005, the largest gathering of the world's advertising, creative, direct marketing, interactive, media and marketing communities. Up to 8,000 industry professionals from 40 countries meet at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes every year to view the best in international advertising, creativity and marketing communications, attend cutting-edge seminars and to network.

Each gold winner will receive $3,000 worth of SIA travel vouchers and all winners will get one full page, full colour advertisement in The Straits Times, for the agency and client.

All entries should be sent to The SPH Ink Awards, c/o the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore, 32 Pekin Street, Far East Square 05-01, Singapore 048762.

SPH Ink Awards
Qualifying SPH publications:

Newspapers

Magazines

Awards Categories

Grand Prix
Gold – Best Print Advertising Individual
Gold – Best Print Advertising Campaign
Silver
Best In Art Direction
Best In Copywriting
Best In Typography
Best In Illustration
Best In Digital Imaging
Highly Commended
Finalist

SPH Ink Awards logo

For more information on the SPH Ink Awards, visit www.4as.org.sg.

Issued by Singapore Press Holdings Limited

For more information, please contact:

Danny Yeo
Senior Manager
Branding & Promotions
Marketing Division
Singapore Press Holdigns
DID: 6319 2344
MOBILE: 9622 6233
danny@sph.com.sg

About SPH:
Main board listed Singapore Press Holdings Limited is the leading news and information provider, offering quality content for print, Internet, TV and radio. It publishes 14 newspapers in the four official languages and seven lifestyle periodicals. Everyday, 2.78 million individuals, or 90 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of the SPH publications while the online editions of its six main dailies enjoy some 120 million pageviews a month. SPH has ventured into the broadcast medium and operates two popular free-to-air TV channels, Channel U in Chinese and Channel i in English. It also operates two entertainment radio channels, UFM 100.3 FM in Chinese and WKRZ 91.3 FM in English, under a joint venture company UnionWorks with NTUC Media.