Design Award Winner

The Festivals Company triumphed last night (Tuesday 12^th June 2007) at the Bilingual Design Awards 2007, held at City Hall, Cardiff when the Company came first in the new media category for the Ffresh website www.ffresh.com

"This is great news for The Festivals Company. Ffresh celebrates the work of students in Wales who study the moving image through the Ffresh awards. I think it’s quite appropriate that the team behind the awards have also been recognised with this important award.

We’ve enjoyed working with Kara and Simon from Green Land Design on a number of projects. Their work on the Ffresh site is testament that bilingual design can by youthful, vibrant and dynamic. Tonight’s recognition is quite simply a very much appreciated pat on the back from our peers," said Berwyn Rowlands, Managing Director, The Festivals Company, pictured above at the awards ceremony with Kara Massie, Green Land Design and Mark Phillips, Welsh Language Board.

"The Design Awards is a great occasion to recognise, award and celebrate all the great bilingual design work of the last year. Around a thousand companies competed this year which is testament to the understanding of what the positive effect of good bilingual design can do for a product, campaign or an advert," said Meri Huws, Chair of the Welsh Language Board.

This is the seventh Bilingual Design Award ceremony which is growing in stature and appeal. The competition aims to promote and raise the profile of bilingual design and recognises the best in this field of expertise.

Meri Huws, said , "What is significant about the shortlist and indeed the winners is that they’re a mix of big and small organisations which just goes to prove that any company can use Welsh to brand their corporate identity or to market their products."

Meri Huws added, "In a time where buying local produce and goods is on the top of the agenda, the Welsh language can play key role in the way companies brand products and their identity. Welsh can be a critical marketing tool to make an impression and to differentiate one product from the rest of the filed."

This year’s judges were very impressed by the high standard of work that was entered for the awards.

Angela Gidden, designer and judge, said "The standard of the work in all categories that we looked at this year was extremely high. Anybody can see from the short listed work that bilingualism doesn’t mean that there should be any compromise in design. In fact, good designers often use the bilingual element to add an artistic dimension and depth to their work."

The Bilingual Design Awards 2007 were sponsored TESCO, HSBC, BORDERS and Marks & Spencer.