Here are a couple more awards dates for your diary.

The annual DBA Design Effectiveness Awards is to launch its call for entries later this week (details here). To win, agencies will need to demonstrate both aesthetic appeal and clear commercial returns for clients; as the DBA says on its website, it's after "the fur coat and the knickers"!

For further guidance, you could do worse than check out the winner of the grand prix for 2009: the SoloSTAR Disposable Pen Injector, a device developed by DCA Design International on behalf of client Sanovi Aventis GmbH.

The jury said it was impressed by the agency's clear focus on the needs of users, with the syringe itself offering "low injection force" through a newly-developed mechanism. The client's ROI was impressive - with SoloSTAR accounting for 41% of the growth of the global injectable insulin market during 2008 - and the injectors' "subtle yet appealing" design also won praise.

Elsewhere, deadlines are approaching for entrants to India's premier ad awards, the ABBYs, run by Ad Club Bombay. Gongs are divided into two (self-explanatory) categories: media and creative.

The media ABBYs close on March 3rd, with the deadline for the creative ABBYs coming a week later on March 10th.

At last year's event, JWT India scooped five gold awards as well as the grand prix with this Teach India campaign for the Times of India newspaper.

Teach India Times of India ad

Ogilvy & Mather was also a big winner in 2009, gaining a total of eight golds. We'll see if they can repeat the feat at the 2010 ABBYs - to be held as part of Goafest at Utorda Beach, South Goa - on April 10th.