Last week, the Advertising, Digital and Motion categories of the ADC 94th Annual Awards were presented on the second evening of the ADC Festival of Art + Craft in Advertising and Design. To begin the ceremonies, ADC Executive Director Ignacio Oreamuno gave an impassioned speech to the New World Center audience. Below is a transcription.

We are gathered here today to pay tribute to the most beautiful advertising, digital and motion work in the world today, at the ADC 94th Annual Awards.

All of us in this room have one thing in common: our passionate love for this business, the industry of visual communications. Creative people, all of us, have sensitive souls, and a great eye for beautiful things. We laugh hard, we cry often, we drink like pirates and we party like ex-convicts.

We. Are. A. Tribe.

“Creative people, all of us, have sensitive souls, and a great eye for beautiful things.”

So as the appointed leader of this week’s tribal meeting I ask you: are you going to let the industry become one that is run by marketing people and ruled by the power of money, where “creative” becomes a synonym for commodity? Or are we going to protect our craft, our trade, our legacy, our history, and bring back that energy and soul that only we understand and need?

For 94 years this institution has served as a place of inspiration, shelter and camaraderie for our community. This might not be the biggest show in the world in terms of volume and profits, but I can vouch and speak on behalf of all of the judges that are here tonight in this room: this is absolutely the biggest show in the world for love, energy and positive intentions for our industry. No one has worked harder than ADC in the past three years to wake up everyone and course correct our industry.

“This might not be the biggest show in the world in terms of volume and profits… this is absolutely the biggest show in the world for love, energy and positive intentions for our industry.”

In a world of Davids and Goliaths, we are most definitely a David, and even though there are some empty seats here tonight, I don’t mind. That’s because the seats that are filled here tonight are filled with great, beautiful people. They are filled with with believers, dreamers and supporters. I thank you my friends for coming this far, for believing in this, and never forget — all revolutions in this world begin with only a few people.

When you see this reel of award-winning work tonight, I would like to ask that you don’t just watch it, but instead that you truly take it in. Take the inspiration that you will feel in your heart and gut as you watch tonight’s winners’ reel,and shoot out of the New World Center like rockets. Go back to your city, to your agency, to your job, and tell the world about what you saw here this week.

We have one chance, one life, one long pitch. Ask yourself if you are going to be a spectator, and view this industry from the bleachers, or are you going to create great work, work that goes miles beyond the ask, work that physically hurts to make, that then gets a life of its own, and like a surfboard, rides you on a wave onto a stage just like one, to receive an award from your peers that will forever change your career, your job, your dreams, your life, and become your Immortality.