The Bristol-based winner of a 2009 Media Innovation Award, 422 South, has urged creative companies in the South West to enter this year’s competition.

Andy Davies-Coward, 422 South creative director, said: “Many awards do not recognise innovative work, and often work that’s flashy but derivative can win, whereas truly innovative work loses out, because its merit is less obvious. However, when I heard about the Media Innovation Awards, it was immediately clear that here was an award that fitted what we had done – perfectly.

“It’s been great to refer to the Awards when talking about the project, and since we won, other potential clients have come forward, so we are hoping to do much more work using data to generate CGI.

“The ability to innovate, in media – as well as in other industries – has to be the key to our future prospects as a country, so these Awards are a valuable incentive in reaching that goal.”

The Media Innovation Awards is one of the most prestigious events in the South West’s creative media calendar and is about to get underway for the fourth year. The number and calibre of the entries has increased year-on-year and there is hot competition to win one of the coveted awards. The Media Innovation Awards is a joint initiative by the media and design clusters in the South West including Bristol Media, Creative Bath and the West of England Design Forum comprising some 8000 people working in the creative industries.

422 South won the screen graphics category for ‘Britain from Above’, an ‘innovative use of GPS data to visualise and communicate the dynamic nature of modern life in the UK’, which was produced for Lion Television and BBC 1 (Bristol).

The 2010 Media Innovation Awards opens for entries from 16 November 2009 and the winners will be announced at a star studded ceremony in March 2010.

For more information go to www.mediainnovationawards.com