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[integer at www.god-emil.dk]

WINNER OF THE 2002 HOLIDAY E-CARD CONTEST

We juried our E-Card contest last week after having received entries from around the world. We sincerely thank all of the participants for their impressive work. The winning entry came from a design firm in Romania by the name of REEA. We chatted by phone with Dan Masca, the founder of REEA, to learn more about his company and design and life in Romania.

Dan's firm was ecstatic about winning. "No one at our company still believes this is really true. $2000 is a huge sum of money here." REEA was begun six years ago and employs twelve people, all in their 20s and 30s, who specialize in graphic design and programming for the Web. The company is located near Transylvania in a town named Targu Mures. Dan noted, "Americans know Transylvania as where Dracula lives, but there is a lot more going on here." Like great graphic design.

Dan found out about the DWR E-Card contest through a client who lives in Philadelphia. After viewing the DWR web site, the members of REEA felt the products and contest to be in line with their design sensibilities. "Romanians are highly educated, and we all aspire to have nice things, things that you sell on your web site. Here it is not an education or a cultural problem, it is a problem of money." 

The American dollar goes a very long way in Romania. Dan told us about the various ways in which they would use the $2,000 award: "Each designer will get a good bonus, so that he can buy gifts for his family, and I will donate my bonus to my child's charity. We will buy, and drink, one bottle of wine to celebrate at the company. We also have enough money now to fund a start-up magazine that benefits local artists and writers in Targu Mures." The unselfish spirit of the folks at REEA really impressed us, and we are pleased to see the award being used so generously by such hard workers. In the six years since Dan started the company, he has never once taken a vacation. He also told us that his dream is " to one day work on a Macintosh."

Visit http://newsletter.dwr.com/images/newsletter/portland2.html to see some digital photos that we asked Dan to take of his town and office. We thank all of the contest entrants and REEA for designing a holiday card that represents the boundaryless spirit of design. Visit http://www.dwr.com/ecardwinners.cfm?c=portland121802&n=newsletter&c=email to see the winning entry.