SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 5, 2012 - G-Technology, a leading developer of innovative storage solutions engineered specifically to meet the needs of the content creation and Apple® Mac® communities today announced the grand prize winner of its “Driven Creativity” 2012 awards competition. The highly competitive awards competition – a first of its kind for G-Technology in the U.S. – drew nearly 600 submissions from professionals and amateurs across the country in short film, photography, animation, GoPro® Active and music categories.  Open from June 19 to Sept. 24, 2012, the competition was designed to recognize established and up-and-coming talent, with all entrants having an equal chance of winning, regardless of size and budget within each category.

Uri Lotan, Elizabeth McMahill and Adam Campbell, computer animation students at Ringling College of Art and Design, are the grand prize winners and will receive $5,000, an innovative G-Technology 8TB G-RAID™ with Thunderbolt external storage solution and will have their work showcased at G-Technology’s gallery event for their winning animation, “The Ballad of Poisonberry Pete.” Entered in the amateur animation category, the piece is a witty cowboy pie Western that focuses on Poisonberry Pete, the baddest pie in the yeast who comes to town looking for trouble. Using clever pie puns, jokes and characters, this animation – from voicing, story, animation, lighting and rendering – is expertly executed.

“Winning this award truly solidifies the many reasons we have fought to keep our passion alive for so many years,” said Lotan. “We are incredibly grateful G-Technology offered artists like us a creative forum and the opportunity to showcase our work among the masses throughout the contest and gallery event in New York. We hope this win inspires other students and artists to keep their drive to succeed in the industry and to continue to do what they love.”

A jury panel of G-Technology’s expert G-TEAM members and industry professionals judged the shortlist of candidates to decide the grand prize winner and winners and runners-up in each category. Decisions were based on the uniqueness, quality, creativity and the resourcefulness that went into achieving the end result of each category winning entry. Judges included DJ 2ndNature, Alex Buono, Clifton Collins Jr., Jeremy Cowart, Lucas Gilman, Ken Kaminesky, Vincent Laforet and MC Lars. Learn more about the judges here. To see other category winners, including the “People’s Choice” and runners-up, visit: http://drivencreativity.g-technology.com/winners-2012.

Open to the public, the G-Technology Driven Creativity gallery event will be held on November 7-11 in New York City at Gallery 69 (69 Leanard Street, New York City).  “The Ballad of Poisonberry Pete” as well as additional category winners and runners-up artwork from the Driven Creativity competition will also be available for guests to view. The gallery opening event will take place on November 7 from 6:00 to 9:00pm. Please RSVP to http://gtechnyc.eventbrite.com/.

“G-Technology is proud to honor the unique work, talent and dedication that went into all of this year’s entries,” said Mike Williams, vice president and general manager, HGST Branded Business. “Recognizing and rewarding talent within the creative community helps build and foster future artists and we want to say thank you to everyone who submitted a project.”

What Makes a Creative Person Tick?

The Driven Creativity competition celebrates creative accomplishments in multiple disciplines from all over the world. As part of the competition, G-Technology conducted a survey with entrants who participated in the U.S. and European 2012 Driven Creativity competition to gain a deeper understanding of what drives the creative community.  The results paint a picture of highly dedicated individuals who are willing to sacrifice a lot to answer their creative calling.

Based on survey results, passion (80 percent) is what drives their creativity versus adventure/challenge (18 percent) and recognition/fame (2 percent), with day-to-day life experiences (47 percent) influencing their creativity.

Although 51 percent said their parents did not support their career in the arts, 64 percent said they started at age 18 or younger, with 56 percent being self-taught, 22 percent attending a trade or art school, and 17 percent claiming it was their natural ability.  And they’d never give up their passion. Thirty-nine percent said they’d give up Facebook® and 2 percent said they’d give up their best friend in order to keep practicing their artistry.

What’s most time-consuming about the creative process? Thirty-six percent of respondents said post-production, followed by production (21 percent), developing the initial idea (28 percent) and pre-production (15 percent).  As for the storage solution they couldn’t live with out, 39 percent said a high performance RAID solution for pre- and post-production.

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