Indie Agency News Top 40: Design

- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - Artboard 1

No Categories, Just Great Indie Design

Counting down the top 40 pieces of design work from indie agencies and companies worldwide

It’s one of the easiest entry processes in creativity, and unlike other shows, there are no categories. You may have already done a ton of work on awards entries, so we’re making this easy. In most cases, it’s copy, paste, done.

But what kind of design work is eligible?

Great question. There aren’t specific categories, but if it has anything to do with design, it’s eligible. Some examples below.
 
  • Graphic design and illustration
  • Digital design
  • Brand design
  • UX/CX
  • Production design
  • Inclusive design
  • Logo design
  • Video/audio design (and all of the disciplines in each, including elements like motion)
  • Product design
  • Environmental design
  • Experiential design (includes brand activations and trade shows)
  • OOH design
  • Animation design
  • Print design (including books, magazines and newspapers)
  • Posters
  • B2B design (collateral, annual reports)
  • Promotional item design
  • Typography
  • Direct mail design

Not sure if your work qualifies? Hit us up here to help.

You can use any medium you’d like. This includes but is not limited to, case study films, video, audio, PDFs, URLs anything you’ve created that helps the jury get the vibe of the work.

Indie Agency News members receive a 25% entry discount. Please get in touch with us for your code.

Three to six fields to fill out

  • Description: A brief description of the work and creative idea
  • The Brief: What was the brief? What were the challenges and objectives?
  • Solution + Results: How did you solve the brief? What were some of the results?
  • Context (optional): Are there any specific cultural/regional/local references for judges to understand?
  • AI Usage (optional): Did you use AI in any part of this work? If so, what was it?
  • Where This Was Entered (optional): Which other shows did you enter this work and in which category/categories?

You can use any medium you’d like. This includes, but is not limited to, case study films, video, audio, PDFs, URLs anything you’ve already created that helps the jury get the vibe of the work.

Counting 'em down

Starting Monday, March 10th, we’ll invite agencies to join us on a livestream to reveal winners.

  • April 21st: Places 40-31
  • April 22nd: Places 30-21
  • April 23rd: Places 20-10
  • April 24th: Places 10-4

Then, the week of April 28th, we’ll visit the markets of the top three winners. We’ll invite all indies in the market to join us as we reveal the winners live!

Is a Chicago shop taking bronze? We’ll see you there. Could a Denver indie take silver? We’ll see you there. Might a New York agency win gold? See you there!

You don’t have to spend a bunch of money to come to us—we’ll come to you!

(Dates for live events are subject to change based on the geographical location of winners.)

Why enter the Indie Agency News Top 40?

  • Be part of the only global creativity program for all independent agencies and companies
  • Raise your visibility in the indie community and with brands—we’re big on sharing with marketers and CMOs
  • Share your achievement and creative excellence—all entries make either the top 40 or receive an award of merit, and everyone receives assets to use to promote/market their work
  • Upon request, anyone can receive feedback on their entries and work to help future awards entries in other shows

Meet the Presidents

Against a vibrant green background, INDIE AGENCY NEWS TOP 40 DESIGN 2025 stands bold. At the bottom corners, images of two individuals add a personal touch. The center-bottom proudly showcases mrs mr &, capturing the spirit of indie agency creativity in this unique design celebration.

We’re incredibly lucky to have Kate and Daniel Wadia, founders of Mrs&Mr as this year’s Top 40: Design jury presidents. 

Founded in 2016 on the belief that clients should get hands on access and intimate collaboration with an agency’s key principals, Mrs & Mr is dedicated to accelerating growth for ambitious clients by creating purposeful, long standing relationships between their brands, products and consumers.

We’ll have more from our jury presidents throughout the competition.

If you’re interested in judging the Indie Agency News Top 40, please go here or fill out the form below. 

- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - key dates

Call for Entries Opens: January 14th, 2025

  • Early Entry Deadline: February 21, 2025
  • Main Deadline: March 14, 2025
  • Late Deadline: March 21, 2025
  • Top 40 Finalists Revealed: April 7, 2025
- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - eligibility

Submissions are accepted ONLY for work produced by an independent agency and presented to the public in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 calendar years.

This also means that you may enter NEW work that launches in the eligibility window. Have something dropping on September 1st? Go for it. We’d love to see it!

A few other things:

  • Entries may be paid or unpaid/earned. Please note it in the entry.
  • Entries may be from Indie Agency News members and non-members.
  • An agency may enter up to 6 times.
  • All entries are subject to eligibility review and approval. Entries knowingly submitted that don’t meet requirements are not eligible for a refund.

All winners (including merit) receive social/visual assets to use at no extra cost.

- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - fees
  • $159 per entry through February 21st, 2025
  • $189 per entry from March 14, 2025 to February 14th, 2025
  • $219 per entry from March 15th, 2025 to March 21st, 2025

Indie Agency News members receive a 25% entry discount. Please get in touch with us for your code.

- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - specs

Again, you can use any medium you’d like. This includes, but is not limited to, case study films, video, audio, PDFs, URLs anything you’ve already created that helps the jury get the vibe of the work.

We will have several options for you to share your work. Please note the specs below.

Video

  • Formats: MP4, MOV
  • Max size: 1GB
  • Max length: Case films: 2-3 minutes
  • Please provide passwords for any protected sites

Documents

  • Format: PDF
  • Max size: 4MB

Audio

  • Format: MP3, WAV or AIFF
  • Bitrate: 320 kbps
  • Sample rate: 48 kHz
  • Max size: 5MB per file

Images

  • Format: JPG, PNG, GIF
  • Resolution: 72dpi
  • Max size: 10MB per image

Links

  • URLs should link to commercials, websites, microsites, demos, mobile apps, games, etc.
  • Links must be live during the judging process, ending September 24, 2024.
- Indie Agency News Top 40: Design - sponsorship

We have some sponsorships available. Please get in touch to learn more.