A presentation ceremony will be held on May 15 to commemorate the contribution of the Tact awards to the development of the advertising industry.

Committee chairman Thatchawan Kanitwong said that Tact had been recognised as a pioneer in creating and improving industry standards.

Three leading institutes of higher education - the National Institute of Development and Administration (Nida), Silpakorn University and Thammasat University - have worked side by side to make it happen, helping apply technical knowledge and theory to real-world practice.

This approach has made significant contributions to the success of the Thai advertising industry, whose reputation in the world arena is growing.

"Today, the organising committee believes that the Thai advertising industry has made an impressive evolution, has grown strong and can now take good care of itself. This is clearly evidenced by the escalating success of Thai advertising at the global level and the number of advertising contests mushrooming in the country. The organising committee has therefore decided to hold its last contest this year. The Advertising Association of Thailand … will run the contest in such a way that it can continue to make contributions to the industry," said Thatchawan.

This year, the event will be kept short, with only one round of judging for the 358 entries, including for the new categories of Best New Medium, Best Ambience, Best Point of Purchase, Best Event Marketing and Best Marketing Communications. Greater participation by advertisers and brands is encouraged, rather than having only advertising agencies submit entries.

"The awards presentation will be special and memorable this year. The organising committee will gather together each of the Best Television Commercial (TVC) of the Year winners from every contest and select the top 10 from among them. These 10 best of the best will be screened at the celebration to honour the Tact Award's success," said Thatchawan.

This year 100 awards will be presented to outstanding television commercials (57 awards), print ads (19), posters (three), outdoor ads (three), direct ads (three), radio spots (five), jingles (two), Internet advertising (one), point-of-purchase ads (one), event marketing (one), television campaign (one) and print-media campaign (one).

The final three awards will be for Best TVC of the Year, Popular Vote - TVC and Best Print Ad of the Year.