No Winning Logo for Stories from the Field Competition

Design21: Social Design Network coordinated a competition to design the Stories from the Field UN Film Festival logo. The above is my entry, which was one of 148 finalists chosen by a distinguished jury panel out of over 1600 entries. I was pretty excited about that. (It also looks like Kate really liked it, too!)

In any case, the winning entry was supposed to be announced today. It seems they didn't award anyone. Here's why as best as I can understand, in a nutshell: There were various groups involved in the decision, and some were adamant that a design from among the entries, which wasn't a finalist should be included. Of course, if you have a juried competition, this would be unethical. Haruko Smith, design director of Design 21, consulted with UNESCO and the judges and decided to award the $5000 prize to no one.

Here's the official letter from Haruko Smith to the entrants explaining the above. I've included an excerpt below:

"In spite of our protest, MCA-I NY announced to us that their panel of judges including UNDPI, UN Graphic Design and New School selected a design from outside the field of finalists that we had sent to them. They are free to go with the design of their choice, but we feel that to declare that person a winner is an insult to the finalists. That is why we do not have an official winner of this competition."

I think the whole thing is a shame, and is mostly a slap in the face to the jury who selected these finalists. It's basically saying to them that their judgment was faulty and they missed the 'best one'.

I'm not sure how soon I will take the time to enter any other Design21 competitions. I'm really selective about which competitions I bother entering. I'm curious if anyone else entered and what you think.