WHAT is more valuable to an artist than over a million dollars worth in prizes? Recognition and respect.
As the region's first international digital design event, the MdN (Macintosh Designer Network) International Design Awards (open to designers working on any platform) will give local and regional designers valuable exposure, as well as prizes including an Indigo workstation valued at $200,000 and the chance to attract lucrative accounts.
One of the local entrants, Peter Heuer, who has handled some of the territory's leading accounts - Coca-Cola, Lexus, Agfa and the South China Morning Post among others - believes technique should not be judged at the expense of aesthetics.
''Talent is a great equaliser, it overcomes differences in computing power, software and sometimes even experience,'' Mr Heuer said. ''The bottom line is: has the design achieved its objective? It really doesn't and shouldn't matter how it was created.'' Apart from nine prominent local designers, the awards will also bring together some of the world's leading graphics' design professionals as judges.
Diana Burns, co-author of the Official Quark Press Handbook, from San Francisco, and famous MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) designer, Takanobu Igarashi of Tokyo, are among the seven international judges.
Overseas winners of the Gold and Sponsor Awards will be flown to Hong Kong to attend the awards night presentation during MacWorld Expo/Asia on November 30.
