Astral Out of Home has announced the Western Canada, Toronto and Montreal winners of its seventh annual Carte Blanche for Creatives out-of-home (OOH) advertising contest, which saw a record number of entries.

From more than 340 design submissions, a jury of experts selected the first, second and third prize winners for each territory, including digital billboard ads for Western Canada (i.e. Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton), transit shelter posters for Toronto and vertical billboards for Montreal, corresponding with Astral OOH formats in each Canadian city.

The Western Canada grand prize, for example, honoured the Molson Live Beerboard, developed by Rethink's Sean O'Connor and Melissa Haebe. Jenny Luong and Martin Stinnissen at John St. came in first place in Toronto with their Cloudy Vision public service announcement (PSA) for Ontario's Ministry of Transportation (MTO). And Guillame Bergeron and Marc Guilbault of LG2 Montreal won their city’s top prize with a Krispy Kernels ad dubbed ‘Noix mélangées’ (‘Mixed nuts’). Each of their clients will be offered an Astral OOH campaign worth $50,000.

“We are thrilled with the number and quality of submissions this year,” says Michael Alexandor, vice-president (VP) of marketing and innovation for Bell Media Sales, with which Astral is affiliated. “They showcase great ideas created specifically for transit shelters and billboards. Congratulations to the winners!”