Auckland based design company Alt Group proves that being based at the bottom of the world can put you on top with the company winning big at a number of international design awards.

Alt Group, a strategic design company based in Auckland, took home more major awards than any other Australian or New Zealand design firm at the prestigious AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Awards recently in Adelaide, Australia.Auckland based design company Alt Group proves that being based at the bottom of the world can put you on top with the company winning big at a number of international design awards.

Alt Group, a strategic design company based in Auckland, took home more major awards than any other Australian or New Zealand design firm at the prestigious AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Awards recently in Adelaide, Australia.Alt Group beat off more than 2700 entries to win a supreme Pinnacle Award and an impressive 13 Distinction Awards at the AGDA Awards on October 25 to top a brilliant year for the multidisciplinary design studio - this year alone the company has won 55 local and international awards.

This is the second year that the company has taken home a prestigious Pinnacle Award, which is presented only to designs which the judges unanimously score over 90%. The AGDA Awards are held biannually and only nine Pinnacles were awarded at this year's event.

Alt Group took home the Pinnacle Award in the Photography category for its Music Convergence CD series for New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. The CDs showcase the best of New Zealand music and are distributed to music company decision makers around the world to help promote New Zealand music. Each CD is exquisitely packaged and features time-lapse images of melting wax tuis, New Zealand's native songbird.

So far NZTE and Alt Group have created eight CDs, which feature music as diverse as Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, the Finn Brothers, Hollie Smith and Scribe.

Says Alt Managing Director, Ben Corban: "The competition at the AGDA Awards is fierce and to win this number of awards as well as taking home a Pinnacle Award two years in a row, is an honour and a testament to the vision and commitment of our team."

Corban and fellow Creative Director, Dean Poole, believe that entering such competitions is important as a "benchmarking exercise and also to promote New Zealand design internationally".

In addition to this recent win, the creative consultancy also cleaned up the competition at this year's national BeST Design Awards, which were held in Auckland last month. Alt won an astonishing 31 awards (the most awards won by a single design company), including the Supreme Stringer for their irreverent branding for Auckland law firm, Hudson Gavin Martin.

Alt was awarded Official Honoree status at the Webby Awards, for I KISS NZ, as part of the www.justaddnewzealanders.com website which promotes New Zealand's film and production companies. Official Honoree status was conveyed on only 15% of the 8,000 plus entries in the Webby's.

They were also given a Merit Award at the Art Directors Club (USA) in the corporate and promotional design category for their Black Grace posters and a Gold award in the Graphis Poster Awards (which reward the top 100 posters of the year from around the world). They were also awarded Merit at One Show (USA) for the travel-based website www.runawaynow.com, which offers the best travel tips from opinion-leaders and trend-setters worldwide.

14/11/08

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