At 9am on Wednesday, December 18th, the voting phase of the Draw Outside of the Box contest will come to a close.  Three months and 350+ entries into the contest, the 30 entries with the most Likes in our Facebook ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ album will move on to phase two, in which a panel of esteemed creative professionals will review each entry and choose the three best designs.

Our panel of judges certainly have their work cut out for them over the next few days.  Their task will be to single out the very best pizza box design from 30 entries — entries which have been competing for public votes (‘Likes’) for the past 3 months.  This single design will then be prepared for printing, will go to press, and will become the face of OTTO’s pizza boxes throughout 7 locations (plus delivery and catering services) in MA and ME.  The winning designer will also earn $1000 for his or her school for art education purposes.  First through third place will also win pizza and OTTO swag.

It’s a tough job, but we believe our panel is up for the task. (We’d like to mention that these fine and talented folks have volunteered their services for this very special occasion.)

Ladies and gentlemen, the ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ panel of judges:

Scott Nash
As a founding partner of BIG BLUE DOT, Corey McPherson Nash and NASHBOX, Scott has developed an expertise in the branding and creative development of products and programming for the entertainment, consumer product and publishing worlds. In addition to designing identities for Nickelodeon, PBS, ABC, Comedy Central, and FX, Scott’s design clients include American Girl, Disney, Harvard University, Mattel, Milton Bradley, and The Boston Pops.
Scott’s work as a designer and illustrator has been recognized by The Academy for The Arts and Sciences (EMMY award), PROMAX, Broadcast Designers Association, American Institute of Graphic Arts, and Society of Illustrators.
Scott has illustrated over forty children’s books, including Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp! and The Bugliest Bug by Carol Diggory Shields, Betsy, Who Cried Wolf! and Betsy, Red Hoodie by Gail Carson Levine, as well as the Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown.
Scott has lectured widely and taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, and The Art Institute of Boston. He currently teaches at Maine College of Art, where he helped establish the illustration department.

Martin Sorger
Over 25 years, Martin has launched, branded, and rebranded companies as both the client and a creative consultant. During that time, he’s won some awards working as an art director and brand consultant for entertainment, sports, technology, and consumer brands including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Comedy Central, Disney, Finagle a Bagel, Harvard Medical School, Reebok, Walden Media, MIT, MLB, NEC, NFL, and WWE. (And OTTO!)

Debbie Kovacs
Debbie serves as Senior Vice President of Publishing of Walden Media, where she has overseen all editorial publishing activities and was instrumental in the 2005 formation of Walden’s publishing joint venture with Penguin Young Readers’ Group. She worked at Turnstone Publishing Group, Scholastic Inc., where she founded that company’s software publishing group, and Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), where she served as editor of Sesame Street Magazine. She is author of more than 30 children’s books, including Katie Copley, When is Saturday?, Brewster’s Courage, and The Tooth Fairy Book. Her work has been published by Viking, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic and others.

James Spindler
James has specialized in brand identity since 1990, giving unique voice and vision to worldwide brands across multiple platforms. His work has been featured in The New York Times, I.D., and Paper, and has been recognized by British Design and Art Direction, the Cannes Film and Poster Festival, the New York Art Directors Club, the Clio and Andy Awards, and the Broadcast Design Awards. James has served as a design director for Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, Deutsch Advertising, VH1 Music Television, and MTV Asia. He has been a featured guest lecturer at the Yale Graduate School of Design, the School of Visual Arts, and Parsons: The New School for Design. James’ projects have included multimedia initiatives for NASA, the ONE campaign, and the artist Maya Lin. He has been on the juries of numerous design competitions, including those of the AIGA and the New York Art Directors Club.

Clif Stoltze
Clif is Founder of Stoltze Design, where he also serves as Creative Director. He has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of art, and frequently lectures at schools and design organizations all over the US. Clif has served as AIGA Boston vice president, and was the recipient of their 2005 Fellow Award. A lover of music and album art, Clif’s book 1000 Music Graphics was published by Rockport in May of 2008 and he is also curator of POSTGIG, a traveling exhibit of contemporary music posters. His work is also in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.