• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 1, 2012

USA Today is looking to foster creativity in print advertising with a new competition highlighting print’s versatility and potential. The 2012 USA Today Print Advertising Competition is soliciting entries from advertising agencies, marketers and nonprofits. They submit their most creative ideas for a chance to win $1 million worth of full-page print advertising in the iconic national newspaper.

Entries will be judged on the creativity and originality of the ad visual storytelling and clarity of writing, according to USA Today, which said the competition will be judged by industry execs, including Andrew Essex, CEO of Droga5; Chip Kidd, designer and writer at Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Sean McLaughlin, creative director at Wieden + Kennedy; Chuck Porter, chairman at Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Ty Montague, co-founder and co-CEO of the Co Collective; and Michael Wolff, the media columnist for USA Today.

Entries can be submitted beginning Oct. 8 and the contest will remain open through Nov. 26. A grand prize winner and two runners-up will be announced in January 2013.

Newspaper print advertising could use the encouragement.

According to the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenues have declined from $47 billion in 2005 to nearly $21 billion in 2011, for a 56% decline in six years. The decline hasn’t spared USA Today, which saw total print ad revenues decline 14% in 2011, reflecting weakness in the automotive, travel and entertainment categories, according to Gannett.