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The AICP Awards tour concludes  its national rollout as the association’s Midwest Chapter presents a panel discussion and screening on Thursday, November 9th. Taking place at The Old Post Office, the event will feature a selection of top winners from AICP’s three 2023 competitions – The AICP Post Awards, the AICP Next Awards, and the AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial – which will be screened and analyzed by a quartet  of industry leaders.

The event kicks off at 6 pm with a happy hour, followed by the Awards presentation at 7 pm, and concludes with a reception. The Old Post Office is located at 433 Van Buren Street. Tickets are available now; for more information, click here.

Speakers at the panel will include 2023 Next Awards and AICP Show winner Gordy Sang, Co-Founder/Co-Chief Creative Officer, Quality Meats; Lara Herzer, Executive Creative Director, Dentsu; Kathleen Tax Wille, Chief Creative Officer, Solve; and Next Awards Integrated Campaign category judge Lewis Williams, EVP, Head of Brand Impact, Weber Shandwick. 

Moderated by Matt Miller, President and CEO of AICP, the evening will include montages of the winning work from each show, with the  panel reviewing selected winners, offering  insights into what made them rise to the top of their respective categories and share their viewpoints on key trends in the industry.

“We’re excited to bring the AICP Awards back to Chicago,” says Lisa Masseur of Tessa Films, President of AICP’s Midwest Chapter. “We’re a tight knit community here, and the response we get to this event always serves to remind all of us that we’re focused on a common purpose, which is to maintain the highest standards of creative and production and post production excellence. This will be a night for everyone to not only learn from the best work, but celebrate it as well.”

The Chicago installment of the AICP Awards T0ur will be the final stop after sold-out gatherings in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as screenings in Dallas and Mexico City set for November 2. 

Sponsors help make all of the AICP awards competitions and events possible, and the Midwest Chapter event is clear evidence of support for the association and its competitions. A wide range of companies from throughout the region have signed on as sponsors; leading this group as Executive Producer’s Circle sponsors are Cutters and Optimus. 

Patron level sponsors include The Team Companies (which is also sponsoring the Whiskey Lounge), Picture North, FCB, Cosmo Street and Leo Burnett. Benefactor level sponsors include Whirlpool. Sponsor level sponsors include Havas, TPC (formerly Elite) and Banner Studios. Supporter level sponsors include French Butter, O’Connor Casting, Earhole, Tessa Films, Simian, Highdive, Republic, Laird and Good  Company, We Are Home Team, STORY, Take Care TV and Indigo Goodbit. In kind sponsors include Resolution Digital Studios, Cutters, Reel Chicago and SCREEN. (Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the Midwest event. For more information, contact Jenny Lumpkin at jenny@lairdandgoodcompany.com.)

On the National level, AICP Partners and Supporting Partners, who support all AICP events throughout the year, include Cast & Crew, Advertising & Short Form Production; Universal Production Services; Wrapbook; Film Hawaii; Musicbed + Film Supply; NEED Financial Services, Inc.; Sony Pictures Studios and SoStereo.

2023 AICP Awards Sponsors Benefactors include Another Country; Aspen Travel; AwardCore; Cabin Editing Company; Carbon; Colorlab; Company 3; Cut+Run; Cutters; Directors Guild of America; Flavor; Heard City; International Digital Centre, Inc. – IDC; Istros Media Corporation; Kodak Motion Picture Film; LBBonline - Little Black Book; Optimus; SHOOT Magazine / SHOOTonline; Source Shots Slate; S’well; and Whitehouse Post.

2023 AICP Awards Patrons include asche & spencer, BMG Production Music, Island Film Group, Quixote, SAG-AFTRA, Silvercup Studios, The Roots Production Services and Vagabond Production Services.

Flavor created the graphics and design language for all three competitions, with music and sound design produced by Another Country. All showreel editing was performed at Cutters. 

Established in 1992, The AICP Show is one of the most important advertising showcases in the world that’s dedicated to excellence in craft. The AICP Post Awards, which debuted in 2001, honors excellence in a wide range of post production crafts and disciplines. And the AICP Next Awards, launched in 2007, highlights the winners of the 11 Next categories, which honor innovative marketing communications. 

Honorees in each of the AICP Awards competitions  are preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators. All individual works and each year’s shows in their entirety can be viewed exclusively at www.aicpawards.com, the AICP Awards Archive website, while winners of the AICP Post winners can be viewed at www.aicppostawards.com. 

About AICP 
AICP represents, exclusively, the interests of independent companies that specialize in the production and post production of commercials in various media—film, video, digital—for advertisers and agencies. The association, with national offices in New York and Los Angeles as well as regional chapters across the country, serves as a strong collective voice for this $5 billion-plus industry. Founded in 1972, AICP assists its members by: disseminating information; representing production and post production companies within the advertising community in business circles, in labor negotiations and dealing with employment issues; and before governmental officials; developing industry standards and tools; providing professional development; and marketing American production and post production via events and awards shows.