Simplicity was what linked the winning adverts in this years NNI Advertising Awards, according to the judges.
Mr David Dye, art director at the London agency, BMPDDB, and his colleague, copywriter Mr Sean Doyle, said that although the volume of entries represented a daunting task, they were "pleasantly surprised".
Summing up the competition, they said: "Despite the fact that around 90 per cent of the entries were quite poor, the remaining 10 per cent were genuinely imaginative and innovative. The 90 per cent stink rate applies equally to English and American advertising too."
As for the winners, the common link was that they were simple. "There's no mistaking the point they're trying to communicate. They each have one small twist on an ordinary message. And that one twist is enough.
"So often you see cluttered ads trying to get a million points across, the end result being that they get absolutely nothing across. This, unfortunately, was the case with most of the ads we looked at - and most of the ads you see every day," they added.
They continued: "We don't think the standards of the creatives [ad creators] are to blame. The real reason is the lack of client education."
The winner of the overall Grand Prix Award was Strip Ads, produced by McCann Erickson for Cablelink. These featured a series of witty strips highlighting films to be shown on various TV channels received via Cablelink.
The prize fund for the awards was worth more than £250,000 in advertising space, cash and holiday vouchers. The prizes were divided between the winning agency teams and the advertisers.
For taking the Grand Prix, Cablelink won £100,000 in advertising space in NNI newspapers, linked on a pound-for-pound basis with the firm's outlay during 1999. The McCann Erickson team responsible for the ad received a cash prize of £8,000; Cablelink received holiday vouchers worth £5,000 for distribution by the company's chief executive.
The managing director of McCann Erickson, Mr Brian Sparks, received a gold sculpture by Irish sculptor John Coll. The managing directors of the agencies which produced the various category award winners received bronze replicas of the same piece of sculpture. Mr Coll's work includes the Patrick Kavanagh memorial on the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin.
In designing the trophy, Mr Coll said he was trying to suggest the level of concentration attained "when the brain sifts through the maelstrom of stimuli that go to make up our perception of reality".
He added: "To allow the emergence of original ideas, the brain seems to often shift into a different level of consciousness as it concentrates on the problem at hand."
The "Speculative" category for advertisements which have not yet been published was won by the Peter Owens agency for the National Ploughing Association (NPA). It is for next year's ploughing championships. The NPA wins advertising space worth £50,000.
The "Speculative" category was one of the most competitive this year. There were 144 entries, from which the judges short-listed two campaigns and 10 adverts.
"We were a bit disappointed with the level of interest in the Speculative category the last time round," said Mr Louis O`Neill, chairman of the NNI, and chief executive and group managing director of The Irish Times. "But this year's entry has been superb - lots of really good quality, imaginative ads and a truly worthy winner."
The agency team responsible for the main category winners received cash prizes of £4,000, while the companies placing the adverts received £1,000 holiday vouchers.
The Charity and Public Interest category award went to Young Advertising and The Irish Cancer Society. The charity receives £10,000 worth of advertising space. The awards were presented by the former British deputy prime minister, Mr Michael Heseltine, who is familiar with the publishing and advertising industries. He founded a thriving publishing business before entering Parliament. With a partner, he built up Haymarket Press, publishing more than 60 titles.