FAQ Entry #426

This is a respond to a previously asked question about the A' Design Award and Competition. The full list of frequently asked questions can be accessed here.

#426: I got a notification regarding fees due to wrong account type usage, what is this all about? My account type is Professional.

If there is a fee noted, the fee is usually about the difference of amounts paid by the Agency or Enterprise account type and Professional account type, so getting a notification means, you initially did not pay the correct amount for your entry, and we ask you to pay the difference to make sure that it is fair to those who have paid the full fees. Basically, at A’ Design Award there are different account types such as Enterprise, Agency, Professional, Media, Young, Start-Up, Government, Non-Profit and others, the account types helps us create positive discrimination by charging large companies more and designers much less. The fees usually depend on who is making the entry; for example Young account types pay less then Professionals who pay less than Large Design Studios or Agencies who pay less than Enterprises or Brands. When you choose Professional Account Type, we expect it to be your own, personal account; the account holder name and yearbook and PR name should be same as your name; not an Enterprise or Agency. If you choose a Professional Account type, that is more or less like an individual entry, you cannot use an Enterprise or Agency name for your account, we usually send an email every year reminding this (but we are not obliged to send or ensure that the mail is delivered), to remind participants to check their accounts. We usually cancel the fee or reduce it significantly, if you restore the account name status; for example if you use your own name instead of a company name, as a professional entrant, we are very likely (but not obliged to; sometimes we might have prepared materials or deliverables that already include corporate naming in such cases it could not be possible to make a full waiver) to cancel any fees regarding this matter. Furthermore, in most cases, it actually turns out, that another account type such as Agency or Enterprise is the right type for your entry, if that is the case, we would update your account type to the new suggested one once you pay the due fees or when you close your account balance with due fees already noted. Your situation is most likely similar, check if you used Company or Agency name for your account, if you use an Agency or Company name, you should have Agency or Enterprise account, if you wish to keep using professional account type, then simply change your name and surname as well as name on certificates section to your own name; when an Agency or Enterprise wins the award, the award belongs to the Enterprise or Agency, but when a Professional wins the award, the award belongs to the professional; the individual person and that is how we differentiate the account types. To summarize, if you wish to keep company or agency name in book, public relation campaigns, exhibition posters, profile details and more, you should use Agency or Enterprise account type.

Keywords: account types, professional account type, enterprise account type, agency account type, account type, account issues

The following questions could be related:

• #349: Who are the participants of the design award? Are they design students, professional designers or design studios and corporations?
• #403: How much does the registration cost for a designer who has designed a product for a company, and that product is already in the market.
• #437: I am a fashion designer with no company and I would like to apply in a design award and competition how can I apply? and how to do it step by step?
• #464: We are an advertising and public relations agency, we wish to nominate a product from one of our top clients, what do we need to and which account type do we choose.
• #467: What is the New Account Type? What is the account type New? What are the benefits of New-Type Account?
• #497: You said no further fees and I was just charged a ridiculous amount for using my brand name! I am representing a very large international company! What is the meaning of this! What does wrong account type even mean!

If you did not find your answer, please feel free to check the faq pages for more questions and answers. You will also want to check our webpage for details; thanks to our transparency policy, we document and publish everything.