TACOMA, WA.-Tacoma Art Museum won two international design awards, including the highest-honor Platinum Award, for outstanding creative achievement. The MarCom Awards, administered and judged by Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, selected Tacoma Art Museum ’s promotional poster for the recent Sparkle Then Fade exhibition for the Platinum Award. The promotional postcard for a free community festival related to the Frida Kahlo: Images of an Icon exhibition received an honorable mention. Both pieces were designed by Tacoma Art Museum ’s staff graphic designer, Pei Pei Sung . Sung has worked with Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Safeco Insurance, Wing Luke Asian Museum, University of Washington, and Asian Counseling and Referral Service.

The MarCom Award competition has grown to become one of the largest of its kind in the world with more than 5,000 entries from throughout the United States and abroad in 2007. Winners were selected from over 200 categories in seven forms of media and communication efforts including marketing, publications, promotions, public service/pro-bono, creativity, and electronic/interactive.

The Sparkle Then Fade poster was distributed between May and September 2007 while the exhibition was on view. It featured metallic lettering, as well as Mark Swanson’s iconic crystal-studded deer, Fits and Starts. The promotional postcard for the free community festival on April 27, 2007 featured a Frida Kahlo doll wearing a party hat next to a cupcake with a single candle.

The competition is open to corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, public relations firms, design shops, production companies, and freelancers. The winners range in size from individual communicators to media conglomerates and Fortune 50 companies. Other Platinum Award winners include American Cancer Society , Burston-Marsteller Miami, Chevron, Comcast, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Mastercard Worldwide, National 4-H Council, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, T. Rowe Price, and US Postal Service. Other Platinum winners in Washington include: Costco, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center , Providence Heath and Services, Washington State University College of Agriculture, and Weyerhaeuser. A complete list of Platinum Award recipients is available online at www.marcomawards.com.

The AMCP consists of several thousand creative professionals who oversee the awards and recognition programs, provide judges, and set standards for excellence. Judges are industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

Tacoma Art Museum connects people and builds community through art. The museum serves the diverse communities of the region through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. The museum’s five galleries display an array of major national shows, the best of Northwest art, creatively themed exhibitions, and historical retrospectives. In addition, there is an Education Wing for children, adults, and seniors with an art resource center, classroom, and studio for art making. Tacoma Art Museum is located in Tacoma ’s Museum District, near the Museum of Glass , the Washington State History Museum , and historic Union Station.