Award Nominees Series, 1965-1968, 1983-1987 and undated

Scope and content:

These slides (labeled with "SLA" prefix) were submitted to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) specifically as nominees for the national award program, most recently known as the OBIE awards. Member companies and advertisers submitted what they felt to be their best work for this national competition. The first National Contest and Exhibit of Outdoor Advertising Art was presented by the Outdoor Advertising Department of the Ad Council of the Chicago Association of Commerce in 1930. Later, sponsorship appears to have been provided by the Art Directors Club of Chicago, and perhaps other industry organizations. The Institute of Outdoor Advertising (IOA) was involved starting in 1965 until its merger with the OAAA, which continues "the OBIE" awards competition today. The OBIE award is patterned from the ancient Egyptian "obelisk," considered by many to be the earliest form of outdoor advertising. Award categories varied by year but early groupings often included Posters, Painted Bulletins, Campaigns, and Public Service (Kerwin H. Fulton medal award). Later, the number of categories grew to include emerging formats such as transit advertising and product type categories.

The competition has been known by a variety of names in the collection including the "National Competition," the "Outdoor Advertising Competition," and later, the "OBIEs." Winners were published in a serial, issued also under several different names: Advertising Outdoors,100 Best Posters,Poster Annual,Outdoor Annual,National Competition of Outdoor Advertising Art, Outdoor Advertising Competition, and OBIE Awards (consult Duke's online catalog). These publications indicate that ads posted in one calendar year were usually eligible for the award presented the following year (recent winners can be found on OAAA's website: www.oaaa.org). Unfortunately, labeling within the collection and publications was unclear as to whether a specified year is a posting date or an award year. Years given in the list below are taken from original slide sleeves and containers. For more information on national outdoor advertising awards, consult the publications listed above, the online catalog, and Rubenstein Library Research Services Staff.

While a sizable series, only a relatively small portion of many decades of national competition nominees are represented here. It has not been determined with certainty whether the outdoor industry sponsored any awards from 1973 to 1982, but the OBIE award was not awarded during that time. This may explain most of the gap in slides from 1969 through 1982. Some transparencies also are included in this series. Labeled yellow slips were found attached to original slide sleeves, perhaps referring to slides removed at one point. Information on these slips was transferred to acid-free paper and clipped to the new archival sleeve. Some images are marked as being winners in a particular category, but most slides or sleeves have no such marking. Old notebook designations (A-1, A-2...) were maintained on the slide sleeves. Old notebooks were listed in the preliminary boxlist as follows: A-1: 33rd-35th National Competition (1965-1967); A-2: 1984; A-3: 1984; A-4: 1985; A-5: 1985; A-6: 1986; A-7: 1986; A-8: 1986; A-9: 1987; A-10: 1987; A-11: 1987; A-12: Various Designs and Awards. Hard copies of old boxlists may be found in this repository's inventory drawers.

Slides are arranged by award competition dates and were numbered in that order, all with the prefix "SLA." In this series only, slides inserted after most had already been numbered were assigned a number with an alphabetical suffix so all slides following would not have to be renumbered.

Alternative form available:

Some items from this collection have been digitized and described in: Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions (ROAD)

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