Communication Arts Guild

Communication Arts Guild or CAG is an organisation dedicated to Indian Advertising Industry and encouraging budding artists. It serves as an example of the high quality of work done in Visual Communication today. Located in Mumbai, this is the only organisation which has the complete record of the growth of Indian Advertising^[1] since Independence.

Communication Arts Guild
The Registered Logo of Cag
Type	Indian Communication Arts
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	1/4, Malhotra House, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Fort, Mumbai, India
Website	Live on 24th March 2011

History

Cag was founded in 1948. It created its own Constitution, in 1950, registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. The vision was to create a networking platform within the fraternity of Visual Communication Industry.

Cag Awards

Cag Student Awards - The Cub Trophies

Cag Trophy

Awarded for	Excellence in Communication Arts and Design in India. The award has a cog wheel representing an eye for perception. The upward representation is that of a wing in flight, an idea taking off, also representing the hand, an important tool to create and design.
Presented by	Communication Arts Guild
Country	India
First awarded	1950

It is held annually after the end of the academic year, with a lot of fanfare ^[2] where art students from various design colleges submit their design projects. Art students in their Final Years are awarded with the prestigious Cag trophies. The awards initially used to be certificates, however around mid 1960s, prizes were upgraded to Cag Trophies. There were also a few Running Trophies awarded by the regular sponsors.

They have the following categories:

Cub Illustrator of the Year

Cub Digital Illustrator of the Year

Cub Typographer

Cub Copywriter

Cub Photographer

Cub Visualiser

Cub Art Director

Cub Filmmaker

Cub 3D Designer

Cub 3D Craftsman

The Best FMCG Campaign

Young Cag - The Best Student

Cag Sponsorships

Pre-final year Art students submit their work and those with good potential are awarded scholarships to encourage to perform equally well in their final years and bag the Young Cag Trophies.

Cag Guru of the Year

The Award of the Cag Guru of the Year started in 2006 in a sincere endeavour to honour not the fruits of the industry but also the roots who cultivated, nurtured and encouraged this new cult of designers.

2005-2006 - Mr. Ranjan Joshi

2006-2007 - Mrs. Vidya Joshi

2007-2008 - Mr. Vinay Saynekar

2008-2009 - Mr. Vinay Saynekar

2009-2010 - Mr. Vinay Saynekar

2010-2011 - Mrs. Radha Vaishali Ambekar

Cag Hall of Fame

Cag started the tradition of honouring stalwarts from the Industry for their lifetime achievements in the year 1980. Cag has acknowledged the following outstanding professionals whose works have marked significant milestones in the advertising industry.

1980-1981 - Late Mr. P.N.Sharma, Late Mr. S.Das Gupta and Mr. Umesh Rao

1981-1982 - Late Mr. Waghulkar

1982-1983 - Late Mr. Kishore Parekh and Late Mr. Victor Fernandes

1983-1984 - Late Mr. Mitter Bedi and Mr. Hasan Taj

1984-1985 - Mr. Nagendra Parmar and Mr. R.R.Prabhu

1985-1986 - Mr. Kersy Katrak

1986-1987 - Late Mr. Frank Simoes

1987-1988 - Mr. Alyque Padamsee

1988-1989 - Mr. Arun Kolatkar

1989-1990 - Mr. R K Joshi

1990-1991 - Late Mr. Vilas Bhende

1991-1992 - Mr. Sylvester DaCunha

1992-1993 - Mr. Ivan Arthur

1993-1994 - Mr. Brendan Pereira

1994-1995 - Mr. Mohammad Khan

1995-1996 - Mr. Ravi Paranjpe ^[3]

1996-1997 - Mr. Ram Mohan

1997-1998 - Mr. Avinash Godbole

1998-1999 - Late Mr. Ravi Gupta

1999-2000 - Mr. Gerson da Cunha

2000-2001 - Mr. Sudarshan Dheer ^[4]^[5]

2001-2002 - Mr. S.A.Sabir

2002-2003 - Mr. Panna Jain

2003-2004 - Mr. Arun Kale

2004-2005 - Mr. Samir Khanzode

2005-2006 - Mr. Kamlesh Pandey

2006-2007 - Mr. Viru Hiremath

2007-2008 - Mr. Piyush Pandey

2008-2009 - Ms. Sheila Syed

2009-2010 - Late Mr. Bhai Patki

2010-2011 - Dr. Roby D'Silva

Cag Shield Cricket Tournament

The Cag Shield^[6] is a cordial play of short matches between different agencies within the advertising fraternity. Cag developed a connection with individual designers by the awards and workshops or seminars but they wanted to grow bigger. To get agencies' interaction,^[7] with each other and Cag, they started this sporty tradition and is continuing even today. This brings the agencies^[8] to interact and open up to each other in a group activity apart from advertising.

Cag Annuals

First published in 1950, Cag Annuals were design magazines published yearly. They showcased advertising works in that particular year and also mentioned the Cag winners, Hall of Fame and Young Cags of that year. They also had the photographic record of the events in that year, especially the award show. These are the most precious records on Indian Advertising.

Committee

The Present Committee

President

Mr. Samir Khanzode

Vice President

Mr. Gangadharan Menon

Mr. Ranjan Joshi

Mr. Sachin Puthran

The First Committee

The first Cag Committee Members in 1950, as per the Constitution of Cag were:

S Das Gupta
M Umesh Rao
Ratan Batra
V N Adarkar
P G Pradhan
R H Willis
S M Pandit
Victor Fernandes
T S Mani
D B Anand

Trivia

The first Annual Exhibition of Cag was from 20 to 30 March 1950 at Sir Cowasji Jehangir Hall. The four categories were illustrations, layouts, posters and logotypes.
Cag was founded in 1948. It was then called Commercial Artists Guild.
The first lady in the Cag committee as Vice President was Elsie Nanji.
The first Cag Annual printed in color was the Issue of 1987-88
The Cag Hall of Fame started in 1980. It was then known as the Cag Roll of Honour.
Sylvestar Da Cunha was inducted into the Cag Hall of Fame in 1992. Interestingly after 8 years, his brother Gerson Da Cunha was also honoured by Cag Hall of Fame.
The longest serving President of Cag was Mr. Brendan Pereira from 1977-1993. He still continues to be one of the Committee Members.
The Cub Trophies, started in 2000 when Cag decided to Award Art and Design Students and Institutions.
The Cag Guru of the Year started in 2006. The first teacher to get honoured Prof. Ranjan Joshi of Empire Institute. Interestingly the year after that, the same award was given to his wife Mrs. Vidya Joshi of Sir J J Institute of Applied Art.

Cag goes Digital

The newest venture of Cag is its entry into cyber space. Cag wants to grow out of its Office and reach out to a larger audience. Cag has a Facebook fan page which aims at creating an interconnected network of creative professionals, agencies and students of the field of Communication Design. The official website is a revolutionary step in Indian Advertising Communities and shall be launched soon.

References

^[9]

^ "Mediatrends-TV Media". Mediaware-infotech.com. 2003-09-08. http://www.mediaware-infotech.com/newsletter/Str_indiad.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "S h i a m a k". Sdipa.com. http://www.sdipa.com/showbiz/shows/archives.asp. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "Ray Art Gallery". Ray Art Gallery. http://www.rayartgallery.com/view-artist-profile.php?artid=18. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "Sudarshan Dheer - Biography, Works, Interview, etc. at Design in India". Designinindia.net. http://www.designinindia.net/design-thoughts/masters/sudarshan-dheer/biography.html. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "Icograda". Icograda. http://www.icograda.org/members/members/member_list838.htm?cur_img=2. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "> News > Company Briefs > Vyas Giannetti to revamp prestigious CAG Shield Cricket Tournament". afaqs!. http://www.afaqs.com/news/company_briefs/index.html?id=12120_Vyas+Giannetti+to+revamp+prestigious+CAG+Shield+Cricket+Tournament. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ "> Media, Advertising & Marketing Watch > Vyas Giannetti to revamp CAG Shield Cricket Tournament". Indiantelevision.com. 2007-02-03. http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k7/feb/febmam8.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
^ http://www.indiantelevision.com/release/y2k7/feb/febrel64.htm
^ Pankaj Solanki. "AD Legends,India,Advertising legends,advertising saga,Advertising founders,Adver". Advertising.indiabizclub.com. http://advertising.indiabizclub.com/info/ad_legends. Retrieved 2010-09-26.