ZEW Annual Report 2018 Named “Best of the Decade”

The ZEW Annual Report 2018, which is dedicated to the topic of “Digitalisation”, was honoured in the category “Best of Decade” (2010 to 2020) at the International Creative Media Awards. Along with 28 other reports, it is one of the best works from the first decade of the ICMA Awards in the Annual Reports (online and print) category and is the only report from a research institute to appear in this list.

In June 2021, the jury of the International Creative Media Award (ICMA) selected the best works from the first decade of the design competition in the field of custom media, which, in addition to annual reports, also includes employee magazines, customer magazines (B2B and B2C), image brochures and print catalogues. “We are very happy to receive the award in view of the tough competition. As a research institute, it is our goal to inform the general public about our work in a way that is both accessible and appealing. The award confirms that we are doing just that and encourages us to keep up our good work,” says Thomas Kohl, ZEW’s managing director. In retrospect, it is recognisable that custom media publications are timeless. Works from the first and the tenth competition can be easily juxtaposed. "The ICMA Best of Decade shows that good communication needs good design. This is also true in science communication. We are therefore very pleased that our work has been recognised. It is worthwhile for science communication to be bold and to break new ground in terms of design and concept," says Janin Villhauer, head of Media Design at ZEW.

The “Best of Decade” award underlines the timeless design and conceptual value of the ZEW Annual Report 2018. It has already won two awards at the tenth ICMA in 2019: The work of the ZEW in-house design team was honoured with an Award of Excellence in the category “Annual Reports” and in the subcategory “Infographics”. The ZEW entry competed against 427 submissions from 26 countries.

The ICMA is an international design competition for corporate publications, books, magazines, corporate identities, and logos. The International Editorial Design & Research Forum has been awarding prizes annually to outstanding publications in various categories since 2010. The aim of the competition is to showcase worldwide design trends, reward outstanding work, and promote creative exchange at the international level.