ADDYs celebrate best work in Nashville

Nearly 400 people in the Nashville advertising community gathered Saturday to award the best advertising work from the past year at the 50th annual Nashville American Advertising Awards at War Memorial Auditorium.

"The American Advertising Awards are the industry's largest and most representative competition, attracting over 40,000 entries every year in local competitions," according to a news release about the event. "The mission of the competition is to recognize and reward creative excellence in the art of advertising."

Nashville's American Advertising Awards ranks as one of the largest local competitions among nearly 200 held across the country.

It is the first of a three-tier, national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation.

Thirty-eight agencies received ADDY awards Saturday night for their 2014 work. The top winners included: The Buntin Group, with 50 awards; Lewis Communications, with 33 awards; DVL, with 15 awards; Metacake, with 11 awards; and redpepper, with 10 awards.

Seventy-five companies entered the competition with 726 entries.

The overall best of show went to The Buntin Group. Best of Show in print went to Anderson Design Group, while Best of Show in digital went to redpepper and Best of Show in broadcast was won by Lewis Communications.

Other awards included the Judges' Choice for Diversity, which went to Sullivan Branding, the Art Director of the Year Award that went to Josh Ford and the Copywriter of the Year Award to Laura Powers.