First European

Monday morning of October 13, 2008. I welcomed the employees and yelled out the window onto the street at the top of my lungs – “Yeah! We did it! We won the silver Golden Drum award!”

It was a huge milestone for the agency. It was our first award at a European festival and we celebrated it with exultation.  

Next two years we also kept submitting our works online and got our prizes via post delivery. In 2010, it was my first time to visit Portorož and I immediately fell in love with the friendly and wild atmosphere of the festival. It was the first European festival that I visited in person.

I was deeply impressed as I was reading and taking pictures of famous names on the Hall of Fame. I visited all workshops and studied all cases. I had a blast communicating with all participants and jury members and I kept absorbing all new information.

During the breaks, I dashed out of the hall to check if our works were marked shortlisted. That was the time we won our third silver drum.

I was truly envying those who won gold prizes and got them handed from the President of Slovenia himself. It was mind blowing – to see all of those happy people who were holding piles of prizes. That was the moment when I let go of all fear. I realized that that was the place to win, as the people who went on stage to get the awards were just like me. It’s incredibly inspiring.

Next year, in 2011, it was already me and my colleagues – we were standing on stage and holding the Festival’s Grand Prix. It was our first European Grand Prix.

Since that, I have visited Golden Drum 6 times, twice as a jury member. Our agency has won a huge number of prizes, including three Tartini Awards and even a Golden Rose Award. Now we have lots of European and international prizes, but my memory will always keep the Golden Drum award as the first EUROPEAN one.

Festivals are mind-changing events.

Firstly, it’s an opportunity to talk to more experienced and renowned colleagues and jury members. You get to be evaluated by real professionals. On the sidelines of the festival, you get insights on your mistakes in your work and special features of how these works need to be presented. This gives food for thought. Golden Drum is one of the few festivals with a truly friendly atmosphere, and its jury is always open for communication.

Secondly, festivals are a source of inspiration. You are surrounded by creative people and get charged with the atmosphere of a celebration and creativeness.

Andrey Gubaydullin, Executive Creative Director and Co-owner, Voskhod Creative Agency, Yekaterinburg – Moscow, the new Golden Drum Hall of Fame member