Categories

To enter the Awards, you first need to select the Genre to which your design project relates. We have grouped sub-genres together into 5 key genres that effectively cover all music types and styles.

If you are in any doubt please email marie [dot] thomas [at] musicdesignawards [dot] com for advice:

Music Genres

When you complete your entry form, you will first be asked to select a genre. There are five genre groupings.

1. Art / Classical

Including all forms of classical or high culture music, contemporary classical, electronic art music, experimental and minimalist music, and some forms of jazz 

2. Popular

This grouping is for musical styles accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media, the range is vast, from ragtime to rap through such styles as Americana, thus incorporating pop music, as well as musical shows and motion picture soundtracks 

3. Traditional

For the purposes of these Awards, traditional music is folk music, including variants such as Zydeko, polka, etc. Blues music falls into this genre

4. Regional / national

Music of any kind specific to a region, culture, race or ethnic group, religion or language. Gospel could be included in this genre, as could Aboriginal music from Australia 

5. Fusion and Multi-source

A fusion genre is a music genre that combines two or more genres and therefore includes rock as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music, and most forms of jazz that often have a multi-ethnic as well as a multi-form or style origins

The judges will be expert and, if they feel your project would be marked higher in a more appropriate genre, they will have the right to move your project across. You will be informed if this happens to one of your projects.

Now you know the genres, please take a look at the Project categories.
 

Project Categories

After choosing a Genre you will be asked to select from one of the following Project categories, when you complete your online entry form.

There are 11 project categories including the Integrated category:

Advertising/Promotion
Print, digital, direct, outdoor, TV, cinema, radio and any other form of promotional material

Applications
Computer games, visualizers, programming software, interfaces, recording programs, educational tools

Identity
Music-linked logo, brand or product identity

Live Performance/Tour
Single performance, tour, festival, etc including theme, set design, venue design, choreography, stage costumes, lighting/AV, pyrotechnics/theatrical effects

Mobile
Any form of design for music-linked use on mobile devices, including music apps

Packaging
Album/single artwork, boxed sets/gatefold/digi-packs, video packaging and any other music-linked packaging

Products and Merchandise
Instruments, technical products, clothing (except stage costumes), linked products, display systems, accessories, mementos and memorabilia

Publishing
Music publishing: books, sheet music, magazines, editorially driven websites, weblogs, resources, etc. 

Video
Music performance/promo videos, etc, film title sequences, motion graphics, and any other music-linked moving picture material

Website/Internet
Artist websites, microsites, viral, video sharing sites, etc, label websites, download and non-download sites, internet radio sites

Integrated
Combining 3 or more of the above project types for a single entry

Want to go further and lay claim to being a regional design leader? Read on...

 

Continental Categories

To enter one of the Continental region categories you must submit a body of work including at least three different projects. They may all be in the same genre grouping, but should not simply be variants of a design for one client. You can enter a Continental category only if you have also entered one of the projects in a Project category.

North America
Including USA, Canada, Mexico and other central American states north of the Panama Canal 

South America and Caribbean
Including all territories south of the Panama Canal, except for Panama itself

Oceania
Including Australia and New Zealand and the other 12 territories that make up this region, and
Indonesia

Europe and Russia
Comprising Western and Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, for the purposes of these awards

Africa and Middle East
Comprising the whole of Africa and the Middle East, or Southwest Asia, including Afghanistan

East Asia
Comprising China, including Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Mongolia 

South and Southeast Asia
Including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Tibet, the
Maldives, and the British Indian Ocean Territories, and all Asian territories south of China, such as
Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia or Singapore, among others 

Music Design Project or Music Design Team of the Year

You cannot enter this award as the winner will be voted by the judges from all winning work submitted to the
Music Design Awards.

Next, you need to get ready to enter.