It was the night of firsts. And so Atlanta Ad Club Chair, Mandy Bloch opened the 2001 ADDY Awards sans bleachers. Guests gathered around tables atop the Apparel Mart in downtown Atlanta. For the first time, the night rallied around not only ADDY winners, but also the Silver Medal Award, Austin P. Kelley Lifetime Achievement Award, and Young Advertising Professional award recipients. The “Best of the Best” in our advertising community were in attendance for the nights of firsts – Turner Fernandez, Austin Kelley, WestWayne, MRA, ComGroup, Fountainhead, Creative Circus students, Huey/ Paprocki, MATCH….

What has become now an ADDY custom, the song of a bagpipe began the procession, ushering signaled guests to their seats. First award of the night went to Young Professional, Debra Sercy. Sercy accepted the award with a short but moving speech in which she thanked family and friends and touted her charity of choice. A six year Leukemia survivor herself, Sercy chose the Wellness Center as the recipient of the ad club’s donation.

Silver Medal winner Larry Smith was seen in short humorous film clips throughout the night, featuring industry peers, Smith’s own son and a prayer group friend. Described as “zesty,” Smith accepted his award with humility at the end of the night.

Mike Turner, though not present, was honored by all with a speech by Rudy Fernandez who said the humble Turner would have been discomfited by the praise anyway. Turner was the recipient of the Austin P. Kelley Lifetime Achievement Award.

The big winner of the night? Huey/Paprocki seemed to be a theme winning for their work for Cypress Communications, Turner South, MedCareers, Mpower Communication, and the Atlanta History Center. WestWayne, Austin Kelley, and Sawyer Riley Compton also came in big winners. Best of Show went to a piece done for The Atlanta Ballet by Sawyer Riley Compton. Gold winners, excluding student and PSA awards, are listed on page 43.

How did they all do? If you’re interested, check out these tallies. Huey/Paprocki weighed in with 37 awards; WestWayne with 27; Sawyer Riley Compton with 18; Austin Kelley and MRA with 11; Turner Fernandez Turner with seven; BBDO South with six; The Morrison Agency, Fountainhead Advertising, Ivory, ComGroup, Cole Henderson Drake, Fitzgerald + CO. with three; TroneAtlanta with two; and bringing in 1 were AcousTech Music Prod., Berry Design Inc., Char Baxter Communications, The Creative Circus, J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather Atlanta, and T.G. Madison Inc.