The ADC Vision Award was established in 1954 to honor companies and individuals in management for commitment to design and understanding its relation to performance, thereby contributing to excellence in communication, education, and social awareness. Recipients include IBM, Volkswagen, RCA, Levi-Straus, Ford, MTV Music Television, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Manship Medallion

The commitment to the ideal of art is underscored with the choice in 1920 of sculptor Paul Manship (1885-1966) to design the Art Directors Club's first Award Medal. Manship, who created the statue of Prometheus for Rockefeller Plaza, had a strong personal style with elements of both the realistic academicians and the wildly experimental avant-garde.

The medallion depicts Apollo, god of sun and leader of the Muses, flying on Pegasus, symbol of inspiration. The Muses are represented by the strings of his lyre. The Manship medallion has been in continuous use since that time. It served mainly as the President's Medal and Management Medal after Gene Federico's handsome solid cube design superseded it as an award in the 1970's. More recently the medallion, encased in a lucite cube, has been awarded to the recipients of the ADC Vision Award.