'Best of LI' ad awards have to skip a year

Every year since 1984 Long Island advertising executives would gather at a catering complex for the Long Island Advertising Club's popular Best of Long Island Awards, or BOLIs, a glittering affair that honored the best work by local ad firms.

But this year there will be no BOLIs, said T. Walker Lloyd, who has been running the awards for the ad club for about 10 years.

"There won't be an event," Lloyd said. "We're going to miss a year."

The Island's advertising industry has been devastated by the recession, and the number of big firms - once in the double digits - has shrunk to a handful, according to advertising executives still working.

Lloyd said he had been planning an event for Nov. 15, but LIAC is now "inactive," and he is unable to call on people who were once members for help in putting on the BOLIs.

Lloyd said he recalled the days when Long Island companies would contribute time and equipment to put on the awards. Thousands of print and video ads would be entered each year, and on the night of the ceremony several hundred people would turn out.

"Money got tight," said Lloyd. "Some people still seem to be making a living" in the industry, "but not as much."

Several in the industry said they were saddened that the BOLIs would not be held this year.

"It's too bad," said Richard D'Amico, a past club president and longtime board member. "If you go back a lot of years, there were a lot of agencies here. Now there aren't."

Lloyd said he is going to try to revive the BOLIs and is planning to talk with some large Long Island organizations to try to win their support. He is also happy, he said, that he received 19 entries from Long Island college students who seek student BOLI awards. They will receive certificates, Lloyd said.

"In some ways that's more important" than the BOLIs, Lloyd said. "That will go on the kids' resumes."