Punctum Day Awards

2008 Worldwide Punctum Day Awards will dish out $40,000

You and punctum go way back. Your eyes widen, you tilt your head, you squint and maybe stroke your real/imagined goatee. The moment an image arrests your attention, triggering a strong emotional reaction — that’s punctum, says the late philosopher Roland Barthes. iStockphoto created the Worldwide Punctum Day Awards in 2007 to recognize and reward its talented contributors.

As a designer, you’ve already got an eye for this punctum thing anyways. So if you know an iStock artist who consistently impresses you, vote for one of their high-caliber, quality files singing with artistic achievement. Files are eligible for Punctum Day Awards if they were contributed between July 24, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

Any iStock member can vote for a file in each of the five categories: Photo, Vector, Video, Flash and Design. Then our creative heavyweight judges will pick the winners in each of these categories. As votes are tallied for each of the categories, 10 of the Top 100 voted for files will be displayed at random on the Top 10 Picks page. When voting ends on July 25, judges will choose the winners from the pool of eligible, highest-ranked files voted for by our members. Prizes for the Punctum Day Awards total $40,000 USD.

Worldwide Punctum Day Voting: July 2-25, 2008
Winners will be announced: August 19, 2008

Punctum Day Award categories and prizes:

Punctum Day Inspector's Choice Awards:

Hall of Fame:

iStockphoto’s Hall of Fame was introduced in 2007 and Lise Gagné was the first inductee for her loyalty and amazing feat of reaching 500,000 downloads. iStock Hall of Fame inductees are selected by the secretive Punctum Elder Council. Hall of Famers are members who have left an indelible stamp on the history of iStock.

Three iStock members will be inducted on August 19, 2008

Hall of Fame badge

Battle Royale 2008:

Starting on July 17, 2008 the ultimate Steel Cage Battle will take place. The Battle Royale Champion will be announced on October 9, 2008.

What the heck is Punctum Day?

Punctum Day, August 19, was declared in 2007 by iStockphoto as a special day to celebrate creative excellence. The day holds dual significance for iStock because it was August 19, 1839, that Louis Daguerre first introduced an early type of photograph, the Daguerreotype, to the world and it is also the birthday of Jeff Howe, Wired magazine writer, who introduced the staff at iStock HQ to the meaning of punctum.