Sakku Investments Corporation ran a logo contest over the summer, but when the company decided none of the entries should replace its current logo, Sakku also decided not to give out the advertised grand prize of $2,500 and Calm Air tickets.
Instead, vice-president Guillaume Guida sent an email to applicants stating that the company would send every applicant a cheque of $100 as a gesture of thanks.
That ruffled some feathers of artists who worked hard on their entries.
“I would not have taken the time away from my then-three-month-old baby to try my best to win $2,500 and a pair of tickets,” said Candis Sateana, who entered the contest. “I would not have put my time and effort into a project if I knew that they would reconsider and keep their current logo, only to be told that the amount of thought, time and work I put into the pieces I submitted was only worth $100.”
Sateana is getting married in October and tried hard to come up with a winning design to help offset some of the costs. She spent days conceptualizing her logos and about five hours drawing them.
“I am only one person, and I am sure there are other applicants who could have benefitted had they won too,” said Sateana. “They must have had plans had they won.”
And she wasn’t the only one: Miranda Paniyuk was displeased with the outcome as well.
“In my opinion, Sakku should keep their word and award a winner for the logo contest that they had put out for competition,” said Paniyuk. “It isn’t fair that we had put our time and effort to try and win a logo contest for two airline tickets with Calm Air plus $2,500 cash. But because Sakku decided that they want to keep their current logo, it feels as if in their opinion that the logos that were submitted were not up to their standards, as if the people who have submitted their logo for the contest aren’t artistic enough.”
She agreed that someone should have been awarded the advertised grand prize regardless.
“Sakku needs to honour their advertisement like another company would,” said Paniyuk.
And it seems like that feedback has been heard.
Guida told Kivalliq News that the contest received more than 15 entries, but none of the designs moved the company enough to consider changing the existing logo.
“When we offered the advertised winning prize on Facebook, the goal was to compensate the artist for the acquisition of their design, including the copyright for future usage,” explained Guida.
As the decision was made not to move forward with any of the designs, the $100 cheques were intended to demonstrate the company’s appreciation of artists’ time and that the applicants’ art would remain the sole property of the artists.
“Our intention initially was certainly not to cause any upset,” said Guida.
He added that while most feedback was positive, the company is moving to address the situation.
“We want to ensure that we encourage our talented Kivalliq artists, and we’ve made the decision to change our approach,” said Guida. “What we will do is that all those who have submitted a design will still receive the $100, but in addition we will include the names of all the artists in a random draw to receive the $2,500 cash prize that would have been allocated for the winning design.”
Guida said the airline tickets would not be included in the draw, and that contestants would be made aware of it in the coming week.
