Carver Theatre, Birmingham, AL, February 28, 2004—Open Creative Group was honored for creative excellence at Saturday's Birmingham Advertising Federation ADDY Awards. The newly-founded advertising collective received a total of twelve awards, including two of only thirty coveted Gold ADDY Awards. Only two other shops took home more awards, and almost 350 entries were judged.

OCG received a Gold ADDY for the recent stationery package created for Main Street Florist in the town of Mt Laurel. A Gold ADDY was also given for OCG’s own moving announcement. Silver trophies were awarded for creative produced for clients Around Town Relocation, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Flora Nova, Heather Monahan Photography, and High Pointe Spa.

A special judges’ award of “Interactive Designer of the Year” was awarded to a member of the OCG team, Michael Vizzina, for his outstanding design on projects such as the Heather Monahan Photography web site.

Open Creative Group is an innovative “anti-agency” concept which utilizes premium creative talent from around the nation to produce high-quality work for clients who prefer not to deal with the expense and waste often associated with traditional advertising agencies. OCG is comprised of ten creative professionals and is headed by Creative Director and CEO April Mraz, whose work has been recognized by Print Magazine and published in Creativity.

Before launching OCG, Mraz worked for several years in the tech-heavy San Francisco market, where she helped develop startups and already-established brands such as Adobe, Cisco, HP, and Victoria's Secret.

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