Oliver Handlos of Berlin-based Scholz & Friends, was helping to hand out Chips with Dave Trott last year. He thinks they provide an essential antidote to the fact that "many of the best ideas are those coming without a client's brief - and what's even worse: never get a client's approval. The Chip Shop Awards is the only international competition which provides a stage for these fresh, weird and sometimes ingenious ideas... Okay, there is a saying that creativity needs limitations. That's right, but these days we have the problem of too many limitations rather than too few."

  Best Use of Plagiarism and Chairman's Awards 2009 by The Black Hole:
The Sun posters - 'taking the piss' out of the Economist campaign - were Dave Trott's favourite 2009 Chip winner. 

More creative heavyweights join the judges
Anyone who enters the Chip Shop Awards will know that their work is being judged by the best in the business. The heavyweight panel joining Dave Trott reflects the esteem in which the Chip Shop Awards - now in its seventh year - is held: 

•    Andrew Brown, Swamp
•    Dan Griffiths, Glue London
•    Dave Waters, Watermill
•    David Airey, David Airey
•    Fabian Frese, Jung von Matt/Alster Werbeagentur GmbH
•    Greg Quinton, The Partners
•    John Jessup, Leo Burnett
•    Michael Wolff, Michael Wolff & Co.
•    Mike McKenna, JWT
•    Patrick Baglee, Navyblue
•    Steve Vranakis, VCCP

'If the Chip Shops, standing as it does for creative quality alone, expands its influence, then it can help us to draw back from what seems like a headlong plunge into plagiarism and mediocrity.' says Michael Wolff.

'I've never regarded the Chip Shop Awards as an "instead of". I think it's a fantastic "as well as", explains Patrick Baglee. 'It's now as tough to win as any other shelf-wobbler. Long may it continue.'

John Jessop agrees: 'The Chip Shops are about raw talent. The other award schemes reward craft, and finished thinking, but the Chip Shops is the only showcase for the original concept. It's a chance for creatives to truly express themselves without the usual encumbrances.'

Chairman's Awards 2009 and Best Use of Bad Taste 2009 by Workhouse Marketing - 'No More Nails'











Best Use of Bad Taste 2009 by The Allotment Agency Ltd


How do you win a Chip?
At the Chip Shops they celebrate the idea, not its context. Good ideas win. Bad ideas don't. That's it.
If an idea doesn't fit into one of the many categories available, then it's okay to invent your own, such as 'Best Use of Spandex'. The ad doesn't need to have run. And the client doesn't need to be yours. Or even exist. In fact, there is no moral, social, religious, political or existential line over which creatives cannot step in the search for the ultimate ad.
There's only one rule: To have a chance of winning a 2010 Chip, entries must be in by Friday 12th March.  The winners will be announced at In June in London.

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