We know the winners of the sixteenth edition of the Stand of the Year contest organised by Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry. The participants of the contest are companies which offer services of designing and construction of exhibition stands associated in the most important sector association in Poland. The Jury chaired by the President of the Board of PCEI, Mr. Przemysław Trawa, evaluated 15 submitted projects and nominated four laureates. On March 26, in the seat of Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry there was a meeting of the Jury which decided about the results of the contest. Participants submitted 15 projects which were evaluated against modern architectural solutions in the exhibiting, the application of new technologies and materials, and the modern exhibiting concepts which take into account the marketing aspects. The main prize, the Gold Medal for the Stand of the Year 2014 went to the stand constructed and designed by the Poznań company Inter-Mark Group, for the exhibitor AMICA Handel i Marketing Sp. z o.o. from Poznań. The awarded stand was constructed for the IFA 2014 exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Two ex equo awards, Silver Medals, were presented by the Jury to the stand constructed by Meliński Minuth from Poznań according to the design by Przemysław Mac Stopa from Massive Design Sp. z o.o. from Warsaw for Profim sp. z o.o. from Turek. This concept was executed at ORGATEC 2014 exhibition in Koln, Germany. The second Silver Medal was presented to the stand constructed by Expo Linia from Buk for Solaris Bus Coach, Owińska according to the design by Kateryna Shyshkina and Gizela Rozwadowska-Mylko, Expo-Linia Sp. z o.o at IAA 2014 exhibition in Hanover, Germany. The Bronze Medal also went to the company Meliński Minuth. The Jury acknowledged the design by Marta Pietrucha from Meliński Minuth, which was executed for OKNOPLAST Sp. z o.o. from Podłęże at the EQUIPBAIE exhibition in Paris, France. – I am glad that our company was awarded the Gold Medal once again. The project we executed together with Amica at IFA exhibition in Berlin was the effect of fruitful cooperation of a team of specialists. We are proud that our engagement was recognised and we promise to keep equally high level in the coming years. – the CEO of Inter-Mark Group, Maciej Witkowiak, commented the presentation of the Gold Medal. – We are extremely glad that the Profim stand was awarded the Silver Medal and the Oknoplast stand received the Bronze one. It confirms the highest standard of our services and motivates us to further work – building technologically advanced stands with modern design. Each day we are looking for new solutions both at the design and production stages in order to fully meet our clients’ expectations. – the CEO of Melinski Minuth, Andrzej Meliński, could not hide his satisfaction Coherent message, economy of the form The members of the Jury are outstanding specialists: Professor Remigiusz Grochal (Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and Koszalin University of Technology) – deputy chairman of the Jury, Professor Jacek Ojrzanowski (Koszalin University of Technology), Professor Włodzimierz Bartczak (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw), Professor Andrzej Wielgosz (University of Arts in Poznań), Adam Gabrysiak (CEO of the exhibiting company Abisal from Poznań), Łukasz Mikołajczak, PhD (editor-in-chief of Visual Communications), Alojzy Kuca (the originator of the contest, editor-in-chief of Expovortal.com, Honorary Member of PCEI) and architect Maciej Sobolewski (CEO of the exhibiting company Tecon Service from Poznań). The Jury was chaired by the President of the Board of PCEI Przemysław Trawa (Chairman of Poznań International Fair). When taking the decision about awarding the medals the Jury paid attention to the aspects accompanying the function. Special appreciation was shown to modest and minimalist designs which however did not lack aesthetic values. – This year the Jury underlined the adjustment of the expressive forms to the message of the stand. We gave the highest praise to the projects which limited the forms of expression – which were compact, modest and reserved in their form. They were characterised by elegance, minimalism and ease of understanding. They were the features which decided about our verdict. – was the justification of the choice by Professor Jacek Ojrzanowski (Koszalin University of Technology). In our opinion the awarded stands are characterised by the dimension exceeding the functionality – they are not only about the function they were designed with but they are also characterised by high aesthetics. The winners designed the stands coherent with the directions we are currently observing in design – moderate forms, almost ascetic, well though over and more sublime, far from more developed baroque forms. – adds Professor Andrzej Wielgosz (University of Arts in Poznań). The marketing aspect of the presented projects is also significant. – The reality is changing dynamically and this in turn influences the presented designs. The Jury sees those changes and takes them into account when assessing the presented works. The designers, the constructors, as well as the investors are aware of the occurring changes and they are trying to implement them in their designs and executions. Be it in terms of communication and visual identification, coherence of the message, design or the applied tools. Exhibitions are a meeting place and it is essential that the stand is a platform which encourages interaction and dialogue and not just a space separated by walls. The awarded projects exemplify progressive thinking about exhibiting. – comments Łukasz Mikołajczak, PhD, the editor-in-chief of Visual Communications. Trendsetting Alojzy Kuca, the originator of the contest stresses: The idea of the contest is to promote stands which best represent contemporary tendencies and modern stylistics in stand architecture and set the trends in the development of the exhibiting art. The works awarded by us each year become a part of the exhibiting canon and they set the trends which we then observe in other projects after the contest. The growing level of the contest and its impact on later realisations is a pride of the organizers. It confirms the educational value of the contest and its contribution to the development of the design. Source: Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry, photo: archive of Inter-Mark Group; archive of Meliński Minuth; archive of Expo Linia