If there's one thing that becomes readily apparent to a young designer about awards, it is that the more competitions you enter, the more you win. In Veto’s first two years, I entered 14 separate competitions and received recognition in 12 of them. Certainly, really good work is necessary, but beyond that, sheer volume of entries can just about insure that you have a long list of awards for web pages just like this.



I don't mean to downplay the elation that award recognition brings, but I soon realized that client praise, effective work, and personal pride are far more satisfying than awards (and costs far less in entrance fees). 



Although having said this, I reserve the right to enter future competitions just to make sure that the design industry still finds my work inspirational enough to grace the pages of the design annuals.



Until then however, I'll continue doing good work to make my clients as happy as legally possible.