The 2010 Awards opened for entries this week, and follow on from last year’s inaugural event.

They are open to any Australian outdoor advertising campaign running between 1 January 2009 and 30 May 2010. Entries close 11 June, with the winners announced at an event in September.

The 12 award categories include ‘Most innovative use of outdoor media’ and ‘Best advertising campaign run across one or more outdoor formats’. This year also sees the addition of a ‘Small budget campaign’ award for outdoor campaigns costing under $150,000.

The call for entries was launched with a campaign that mimics the controversial Advanced Medical Institute outdoor campaign, with billboards appearing in the centre of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane bearing the phrase ‘The Outdoor Awards are Coming’.

OMA chief executive Charmaine Moldrich said the campaign is intended to highlight the creativity of the outdoor sector.

“As an industry, we are aware that our creative has to meet community standards while being smart, slick and clever,” she said.

“Humour is something that binds us and we have chosen to make fun of ourselves with our slightly cheeky campaign. We hope the advertising community enjoys it,” she added.

Last year’s awards attracted over 220 entries, with 25 ‘Pigeon’ trophies awarded.

Further information about the 2010 awards can be found at the official website.

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