Our jury panel is comprised of an international pool of creative industry professionals from art and creative directors, curators, publishers and other influential luminaries.
As Creative Director for the award-winning agency Catchword Branding, Erin Milnes guides clients to memorable and meaningful expressions of who they are, what they do, and why. She leads branding projects for clients in every industry, including PwC, Intel, BIC, Michelin, Royal Bank of Canada, Hitachi, FICO, Corning, and The Home Depot.
As a naming expert, she has been asked to speak by organizations including the Internet Commerce Association and the Linguistics Society of America and quoted by media.
Erin Milnes has worked in communication arts for more than 25 years, but has relished words, and the stories they can weave, since before learning to speak. She was fascinated by mythology as a child and immersed herself in the stories of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Nordic world. (“I was crestfallen when I realized I couldn’t read every book in the library.”) After several stints in writerly positions—managing editor of Loyola University Press, tech reporter, communications director, copywriter—she realized that brands are the mythology of the modern world and began helping them tell their stories.
“As a creative and a manager, I bring my core values of integrity, efficiency, imagination, and courage to every project. I build relationships with and among stakeholders, examine assumptions, and meet clients where they are. My broad education and experience in the workplace, and the world, enable me to make unexpected connections and create stories that inform and inspire.”
Erin Milnes earned a BA from St. John’s College in Annapolis and studied voice at New England Conservatory with the vague idea of becoming a linguist-philosopher-poet-musician. (Namer is pretty close.) When not creating kickass names or leading clients to brand clarity, she may be found kayaking with her son or making music with her husband.
Catchword is a world-leading branding firm with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Denver, and Calgary, Canada. Over the past 25 years, Catchword has partnered with companies in every sector to create brands that have helped shape our world—from Volkswagen Atlas and freelance marketplace Upwork, to Vudu streaming service and Asana workflow platform. Through its comprehensive brand identity services, including positioning, naming, and visual identity design, Catchword makes brands that make a mark.
