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Draw Outside of the Box 2024: The Winners!

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On January 30, we began receiving the first entries in our ‘Draw Outside of the Box‘ contest, in which creatives of all ages could compete for the opportunity to have their designs grace thousands of OTTO pizza boxes throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Over the course of the contest, we received nearly 500 entries, and those entries received over 13,000 public votes during the competition. The 30 designs with the most votes in each of our age categories (K-12 and All Ages) moved on to the judging phase of the contest on March 30 where our esteemed panel of judges selected our winners.

We want to take a moment to thank each of the amazing artists who competed, our judges who took time out of their busy schedules to select the winning designs, and our friends at Artist & Craftsman Supply, who generously donated a $250 gift card for the K-12 winner’s school, and $100 gift cards for each of our first place winners.

All of us (including everyone at OTTO, our panel of judges, and our customers) were completely blown away by the talent on display in each of the designs.

Although there were so many worthy entries, our judges did have the difficult task of selecting three winning designs in each age category.

Drum roll please…

FIRST PLACE: K-12
Benjamin B
Age 16
St. John’s Prep School
Danvers, MA

Judges admired the level of detail in Benjamin’s deceptively simple design, as well as the use of color to bring the ‘slice’ to life. The intricacy, inventiveness, and sense of humor exhibited in Benjamin’s tiny doodles complement the playful nature of OTTO’s flavor combinations, promising an adventure for taste buds in a slice that’s far from ordinary.

A version of Benjamin’s K-12 winning design will be printed on thousands of ‘small’ pizza boxes and distributed to all OTTO locations throughout New England. Benjamin will also receive a pizza party, a $150 OTTO gift card, a $100 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card, an OTTO t-shirt, and an OTTO cap. St. John’s Prep School where Benjamin attends, will receive a check for $1000 to support art education and a $250 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card.

FIRST PLACE: ALL AGES
Amanda H
Age 37
Brookline, MA

Our judges loved the strong composition of this design, featuring an OTTO logo constructed from dough and sauce, and a supporting cast of OTTO lovable, slice-eating ingredients — including potato, pineapple, bacon, artichoke, and butternut squash, among others.

Amanda’s design reinforces OTTO’s commitment to carefully-sourced, high-quality, wholesome ingredients, including our very own OTTO-made dough — the foundation of every pie — and reminds us that every OTTO experience is its own kind of pizza party.

Amanda’s design will grace thousands of ‘large’ pizza poxes throughout New England. Amanda wins a pizza party, a $150 OTTO gift card, an OTTO t-shirt and hat, and a $100 gift card from Artist & Craftsman. 

SECOND PLACE: K-12
Hana G
Age 15
Kennebunk High School
Kennebunk, ME

The judges admired the compositional simplicity and the seashore palette of Hana’s clean, delicate design, suggesting ripples of waves emanating from the OTTO logo. The victorious slice-stealing gull reminds us — stay vigilant, or someone’s gonna snag that last slice!

Hana wins a $75 OTTO gift card, and OTTO shirt, and an OTTO hat.

SECOND PLACE: ALL AGES
Nick T
Age 38
Peabody, MA

Nick’s playful pizza-loving monster design captures that feeling when the pizza arrives — all eyes (and some have as many as five!) are on the slice, the drool is flowing, and there’s not a frown in the house.

We loved the strong composition of the design, as well as the inventiveness and level of detail in each of the monsters.

Nick wins a $75 OTTO gift card, an OTTO shirt, and an OTTO hat.

THIRD PLACE: K-12
Wren R
Age 11
South Portland Middle School
South Portland, ME

A common theme in the contest submissions (both this year, and in years precious) is the persistence and cunning of Maine’s pizza-loving wildlife. Here, Wren has constructed a scene depicting a trio of masked bandits plotting the heist of unattended pizzas from the back of a bicycle. (Another recurring theme — do not leave your OTTO pizza unattended!)

Wren’s use of perspective and shading draws the viewer in to surveil the scene of this very delicious crime.

Wren wins a $30 OTTO gift card, an OTTO shirt, and an OTTO cap.

THIRD PLACE: ALL AGES
Jamie R
Age 36
Portland, ME

Jamie’s design was praised for its rich textures and food-color palette of lush greens, tomato reds, and golden yellow, in a playful extrapolation of the OTTO logo. It’s all about the slice — here an OTTO Margherita slice with basil.

A well-balanced, crisp, and playful design that convey’s OTTO’s commitment to quality and craft.

Jamie wins a $30 OTTO gift card, an OTTO shirt, and an OTTO cap.

SUBMISSIONS GALLERIES
For those who would like to explore the many wonderful designs submitted over the course of the contest, we have collected them into the below online galleries:

K-12 Finalists
All Ages Finalists

K-12: All Submissions
All Ages: All Submissions

Congratulations to all our talented artists and designers! Each of them have done a wonderful job connecting and communicating with our community through art and design. These creations have brought smiles to the faces of thousands from all over the world who followed and voted in the preliminary round of the contest. These designs embodied the joy of food, the communal nature of pizza, the spirit of OTTO, and the unique natural beauty of New England.

We are confident that these artists will continue to make vital artistic contributions to their communities (and the world) for many years to come!

Draw Outside of the Box: Meet the Judges!

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As of 9am on March 30, the public voting phase of the Draw Outside of the Box contest came to a close.  On that day, the 30 entries with the most ‘Likes’ in in each category (K-12 and All Ages/Non-Student) became finalists and have moved on to the judging phase of the contest.

(View our galleries of finalists on Facebook: K-12 category, All Ages category)

Our panel of esteemed creative professionals (and two former contest winners!) have been tasked with determining the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in each category. The judges will make their selections by April 16, by way of ranked choice voting, with an announcement on our social media accounts following soon.

The two first place winning designs will then be prepared for printing, will go to press, and will become the face of OTTO’s pizza boxes throughout 12 locations (plus delivery and catering services) in MA, NH. and ME.  First, Second, and Third place winners in each category will be awarded the prizes outlined in the contest overview.

Ladies and gentlemen, our 2024 ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ panel of judges:

Scott Nash
Scott Nash is the Executive Director of Illustration Institute and a founding partner of BIG BLUE DOT, and NASHBOX. As a designer, 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, FX, YTV, Scott’s design clients include American Girl, Disney, Harvard University, Mattel, Milton Bradley, NFPA, The Boston Pops and From the Top.

Scott’s work as a designer and illustrator has been recognized by leading trade organizations and publications such as The Academy for The Arts and Sciences (EMMY award), PROMAX, Broadcast Designers Association, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Society of Illustrators and HOW, Communications Arts, Print and Publishers Weekly Magazines.

He has lectured widely and taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, The Art Institute of Boston, Maine College of Art, and Johns Hopkins University. 

Scott has illustrated over fifty children’s books, including Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp! and The Bugliest Bug, Betsy, Who Cried Wolf! and Betsy, Red Hoodie, the series Snow Day! Beach Day! Rainy Day! and Camping Day! as well as the Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown.

Scott is also a writer, and is the author/illustrator of TUFF FLUFF, The Case of Duckie’s Missing Brain and The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay The Pirate. His latest book is BUNNY & CLYDE.

Martin Sorger
Martin is a designer, creative strategist, and painter. His career in design has ranged from tech start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, and include 10+ years on the corporate side as creative director for a Hollywood film production company, a multimedia technology developer, and an online gambling group. Over the years, Martin has worked with brands including OTTO, Harvard Medical School, Roche Bros., Reebok, Disney, Finagle a Bagel, HP, MIT, NEC, NFL, WWE, and BCBS. Since 2018, he’s refocused more time and attention on painting.

Deborah Kovacs
Deborah Kovacs has recently retired from her position as Executive Vice President at Walden Media, a studio that produces films and television. On behalf of Walden Media, she has been responsible for Walden Pond Press, a middle-grade imprint published in partnership with HarperCollins.


Clif Stoltz

Clif Stoltze
As founder and creative director of Boston-based Stoltze Design Group, Clif has nurtured a highly collaborative environment that emphasizes a process based on research, sound strategy
and thorough exploration. This inclusive approach yields compelling communications that effectively articulate and reinforce the message or product.

His agency has been honored by AIGA, the Type Directors Club, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Graphis, and the Society of Publication Designers.

Clif has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of Art and frequently lectures at schools and design organizations around the country. He has served as AIGA Boston vice president and was honored as the recipient of their 2005 Fellow Award. Reflecting his love 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.

Ella Trout
As an eight grader, Ella Trout was the winner of OTTO’s very first ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ contest in 2013. As a homeschooler at the time, Ella donated the $1,000 prize of art supplies to Spurwink, a non-profit providing behavioral health and education services in Maine.  She has spent the past few years teaching preschool, and is currently pursuing a career in special education. Ella has put her design skills to work by starting up her own business, Puppycat Co., where she sells clothing, plushies, and various accessories made from locally sourced, recycled materials. 

Mali Jones
Mali was the winner of the 2017 Draw Outside of the Box contest as a student of King Middle School in Portland.  She is currently enrolled at Bennington College, studying literature and ceramics.  We are excited to have Mali come back as a judge for this year’s contest.  

We are grateful to our judges for donating their time.  

Stay tuned as we will be announcing our winners shortly after April 16, the end of our judging phase.  Thanks again to all of our contestants, and best of luck to our 60 finalists!

Calling artists of all ages! Design OTTO’s next pizza box and win!

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We are thrilled to announce our third ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ contest, giving creatives of all ages the chance to see their design featured on thousands of OTTO pizza boxes across New England.

New for 2024: designers can now compete in one of two categories: K-12 or All Ages /Non-Students (anyone not in K-12)! In addition, the winner of the K-12 category will also win their school $1000 to support art education!

HOW THE CONTEST WORKS:
After creating and submitting your design (click here for art guidelines), OTTO will upload it to one of two photo albums on the OTTO Facebook page (one album for K-12 entries and one album for All Ages/Non-Students). These albums will serve as public galleries of all submissions. The general public votes for their favorite designs with ‘likes.’

View (and vote, with likes!) all current K-12 submissions here.

View (and vote, with likes!) all current All Ages/Non-Student submissions here.

  • Public Voting Phase (Jan 30 – Mar 30): The thirty designs in each photo album with the most ‘likes’ by 9am Eastern on Mar 30 will move on to the Judging Phase of the competition.
  • Judging Phase (Mar 30 – Apr 16): Our panel of judges will select, by way of ranked choice vote, the first, second, and third place winners in each category.


PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES:

First Place (K-12 Category)

    • Winning design printed on small (12”) pizza boxes

    • A check for $1000 for student’s school to support art education

    • Pizza party (for up to 30 students) at his/her school 

    • $150 OTTO gift card

    • OTTO t-shirt

    • OTTO cap

    • $100 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card

First Place (All Ages/Non-Student Category)

    • Winning design printed on large (16”) pizza boxes
    • Pizza party (up to $250 in food delivered to you!)

    • $150 OTTO gift card

    • OTTO t-shirt

    • OTTO cap

    • $100 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card

Second Place (One winner in each category)

    • $75 OTTO gift card

    • OTTO t-shirt

    • OTTO cap

Third Place (One winner in each category)

    • $30 OTTO gift card

    • OTTO t-shirt

    • OTTO cap

We are grateful for the support of Maine-based Artist & Craftsman Supply for their donation of gift cards as additional prizes for both first prize winners and the K-12 category winner’s school. They are also generously offering 20% off for contest participants purchasing contest supplies from their Portland location (simply mention “OTTO” when checking out in-store).

The ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ Contest is open to all ages in New England.

HOW TO ENTER:
Entering is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Create your design

  • K-12: Create your design within a 12×12″ area. 
    Design must include the words ‘OTTO’ and ‘Portland, Maine’ 
  • Non-Students/All Ages: Create your design within a 16×16″ area.
    Design must include the words ‘OTTO’ and ‘Portland, Maine’

Full design requirements can be viewed here. 

2. Take a clear digital picture of the design
3. Submit design at ottoportland.com/draw

We will begin accepting entries on January 30, 2024, and will continue to accept them through 9am on March 30, 2024. However, the sooner your design is entered, the more time it has to earn ‘votes’ on Facebook!

For complete submission requirements, rules, and regulations, click here.

Good luck!

Pizza Party & Prizes for ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ Winner & Runners-up at King Middle School

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Mali (left) is joined by Third Place Winner, Lilah (Right), to show off their check.

As part of the winners’ prizes for our 2017 ‘Draw Outside of the Box‘ contest, a pizza party was held at King Middle School in our hometown of Portland, Maine. This year, King was home to all three winning designs!

The fact that the students were able to celebrate together, with their classmates and teachers, was representative of the collective nature of this project and a testament to the school’s involvement in the contest.

Along with the pizza party, all three winners — Mali, Mattea, and Lilah received an OTTO gift card, various prizes from Artist & Craftsman Supply, an OTTO t-shirt, and an OTTO beanie.

IMG_7400

2nd Place Winner, Mattea, poses with her prizes

The first place contestant, Mali, will have her design printed on thousands of pizza boxes and distributed to OTTO locations throughout New England. We anticipate the boxes to be in-store in the coming weeks!

In recognition of Mali’s first-place design and art teacher Mary Wellahan’s dedication to her students, the King Middle School Art Department received a $250 gift card from Artist & Craftsman Supply and a $1000 check in support of art education from OTTO.

We decided it was only fitting to give the donation in the form of a giant check because hey, who doesn’t want to get a giant check? The students and teachers were as excited to receive it as we were to present it!

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1st place winner Mali and art instructor Mary Wellehan

We would like to congratulate all of the talented artists and designers who participated in our second ‘Draw Outside the Box’ contest, as well as thank all teachers, family, and friends that supported so many hard-working and diligent students all across New England!

 

OTTO’s ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ Contest, Stage 2: Meet the Judges

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At 9am on Monday, December 18th, the voting phase of the Draw Outside of the Box contest will come to a close.  On that day, 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 (and one former winner!) will review each finalist’s entry and choose the three best designs.

Our panel of judges certainly have their work cut out for them.  Their task will be to single out the very best pizza box design of the 30 finalists — entries which have been competing for public votes (‘Likes’) since the contest began.  This winning design will then be prepared for printing, will go to press, and will become the face of OTTO’s pizza boxes throughout 12 locations (plus delivery and catering services) in MA and ME.  The winner will also receive a pizza party (for up to 30 students) at his/her school, a $100 OTTO gift card, a $100 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card, an OTTO t-shirt, and an OTTO cap. The winner’s school will receive a check for $1000 to support art education and a $250 Artist & Craftsman Supply gift card.  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, our 2017 ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ panel of judges:

Scott Nash
Scott_Nash2As a founding partner of BIG BLUE DOT, Corey McPherson Nash and NASHBOX, Scott Nash 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, FX, YTV, Scott’s design clients include American Girl, Disney, Harvard University, Mattel, Milton Bradley, NFPA, The Boston Pops and From the Top.

Scott’s work as a designer and illustrator has been recognized by leading trade organizations and publications such as The Academy for The Arts and Sciences (EMMY award), PROMAX, Broadcast Designers Association, American Institute of Graphic Arts, Society of Illustrators and HOW, Communications Arts, Print and Publishers Weekly Magazines.

He has lectured widely and taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, The Art Institute of Boston. Currently, he teaches at Maine College of Art, where he helped establish the illustration department.

Scott has illustrated over forty children’s books, including Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp! and The Bugliest Bug, Betsy, Who Cried Wolf! and Betsy, Red Hoodie, the series Snow Day! Beach Day! Rainy Day! and Camping Day! as well as the Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown.

Scott is also a writer, and is the author/illustrator of TUFF FLUFF, The Case of Duckie’s Missing Brain and The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay The Pirate.

Martin Sorger
hs_bwMartin is a designer and creative strategist with over 25 years of experience. He has successfully launched, branded, and rebranded companies and products as both the client and a creative consultant. He has held the lead creative position at the film production company Walden Media, ThingWorld, a developer of multimedia technologies, and Gaming VC, an online gaming operator in Europe. Over the years, Martin has worked with entertainment, sports, technology, and consumer brands including OTTO, Harvard Medical School, Roche Bros., Reebok, Disney, Finagle a Bagel, HP, MIT, NEC, NFL, WWE, and BCBS.

deborah-kovacs-1

Deborah Kovacs
Deborah Kovacs is Senior Vice President at Walden Media, a studio that produces films based on great children’s books, most recently WONDER. On behalf of Walden Media, she is responsible for Walden Pond Press, a middle-grade imprint published in partnership with HarperCollins.

James Spindler
5080-James_5X7BW-150x150James Spindler is a prolific creative director specializing in experiential, interactive and retail design projects with some of the world’s most innovative brands and cultural organizations. James’s projects include the critically acclaimed

Gagosian for iPad, a quarterly art application that provides unprecedented access to the global network of Gagosian fine artists and galleries, the Grammy® Award nominated Sting 25 music and tablet app project and collaboration with Maya Lin on ‘What Is Missing?,’ a permanent installation at the California Academy of Arts and Sciences. James and his team also developed the identity and interactive films for Mission Juno to Jupiter which received NASA’s Group Achievement Award.

James’s work has been recognized by the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, British Design and Art Direction, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the New York Art Director’s Club, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Clios and the Grammy Awards among others.

James attended Pratt Institute’s Master’s Communication Design program and has been a featured guest lecturer at the School of Visual Arts/New York, Parsons: The New School for Design, VCU Brandcenter and the AIGA/NY. He has also had the privilege of speaking at Nicholas Negroponte’s TTi Vanguard Conference, Design as Strategy.

He is a member of the Curator’s Circle at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Museum of Design and serves on the International Committee of the Russel Wright Design Center in New York.

Clif Stoltze
clifAs founder and creative director of Boston-based Stoltze Design Group, Clif has nurtured a highly collaborative environment that emphasizes a process based on research, sound strategy
and thorough exploration. This inclusive approach yields compelling communications that effectively articulate and reinforce the message or product.

His agency has been honored by AIGA, the Type Directors Club, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Graphis, and the Society of Publication Designers.

Clif has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and Massachusetts College of Art and frequently lectures at schools and design organizations around the country. He has served as AIGA Boston vice president and was honored as the recipient of their 2005 Fellow Award. Reflecting his love 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.

Ella Trout
image1As an eight grader, Ella Trout was the winner of OTTO’s very first ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ contest in 2013. Now seventeen, Ella has been taking college classes in addition to her high school courses, is painting “all the time” (she had a solo art opening last June), and has put her design skills to work by starting up her own clothing business, Yellowjacket.

Thanks to all of our judges! Best of luck to all our contestants!

Draw Outside of the Box: The Winners!

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On September 18 of 2013, we began receiving the first entries in our ‘Draw Outside of the Box‘ contest, in which young designers from K-8 could compete for the opportunity to have their design grace thousands of OTTO pizza boxes throughout Maine and Massachusetts.

378 entries, thousands of votes, 32 finalists, and 5 judges later, we have our winners.

As we have stated before, everyone at OTTO was completely blown away by the talent on display in each of the wonderful entries (so many worthy designs that didn’t garner enough public votes to make it to the second phase of the contest). As Facebook commenter Julia Goldman so eloquently stated, “Life is short, art is long. Pizza boxes come and go. The influence of your art does not go away. Keep drawing. Keep playing. Keep giving your great humor and design sense and creativity to the world!” We couldn’t have said it any better. We look forward to seeing each young artist nourish their talent and creativity, and share their art with their communities, and with the world.

That being said, our esteemed panel of judges did have the difficult task of choosing their three favorite designs of the finalists.

The winners are as follows:

FIRST PLACE
Ella Trout
8th Grade
Home-schooled
Portland, ME
Ella Trout-Breakwater school
The judges hailed Ella’s entry as “whimsical” and “fantastic,” a “fully realized” design exhibiting a “great sense of Maine.”

OTTO’s designers are currently working on preparing Ella’s design for print. A version of her winning design will soon be printed on thousands of pizza boxes and distributed to all OTTO locations throughout New England. She will also receive a pizza party, a $50 OTTO gift card, an OTTO t-shirt, and an OTTO cap.

As outlined in our fine print, if a first prize winner is not enrolled in a school (i.e. home-schooled, etc.), or enters on behalf of an OTTO-approved non-school entity, “the $1000 intended for the winner’s school will be donated to an approved charity or organization with an art component. Charity or organization must be agreed upon by OTTO and the winner.” Ella has decided to direct the donation to a wonderful Maine-based organization, Spindleworks. Spindleworks, based in Brunswick, ME, is a non profit art center for adults with disabilities and a program of the Independence Association of Brunswick Maine, whose mission is to help children and adults with disabilities achieve full and inclusive lives in their chosen community.

SECOND PLACE
Reuben Pitchel
5th Grade
Dallin Elementary School
Arlington, MA
1512590_714565551888711_1553361106_n
Reuben’s design appealed to the kid in several of our judges. This “fun,” “bold,” “playful” design is “just so ‘out there.'” States one judge, “Ruben is a Surrealist at heart.”

Reuben wins a pizza party (for up to 30 students) at his school, a $25 OTTO gift card, an OTTO t-shirt and hat.
 
 
THIRD PLACE
Laney Towle
6th Grade
Berwick Academy
South Berwick, ME
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The judges found Laney’s design to be “whimsical,” “clever,” “iconic” and “highly original,” one that differentiated itself with its “limited use of color and focus on typography.”

Laney wins a pizza party (for up to 30 students) at her school, a $15 OTTO gift card, and an OTTO t-shirt and hat.

Congratulations to all of our finalists, and to Ella, Reuben, and Laney. We can’t express how much we loved each and every one of the wonderful designs that were submitted.

Stay tuned, as we will be displaying some of the designs at various OTTO locations over the coming weeks and months.

OTTO’s ‘Draw Outside of the Box’ Contest, Stage 2: Meet the Judges

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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
ScottNashPicAs 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
MSorger_web2Over 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
IMG_3926aDebbie 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
5080-James_5X7BW-150x150James 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
clifClif 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.