The first annual “Canny Awards” recognized craft beer cans with high-quality, captivating graphics with the winners announced during the Craft Brewers Conference, held May 2-5 in San Diego. The Craft Can of the Year award went to Bitter American Extra Pale Ale by 21st Amendment Brewery, San Francisco, with second place going to The Corruption IPA by DC Brau, Washington, D.C., and third place to Johnny’s America IPA by Moab Brewery, Moab, Utah.

Eighty-three craft breweries submitted 231 entries in the following categories: Best Shelf Presence, Best Graphics Design, Best Use of Color, Best Seasonal, Best Character, Best Illustration of Beer Name, and Best Local Tie-In.By category, Johnny’s America by Moab Brewery won Best Shelf Presence; Diesel by Six Points Brewery, Brooklyn, N.Y., won Best Graphics Design; Pearl-Snap German-Style by Austin Beerworks, Austin, Texas, won Best Use of Color; Santa Fe by Santa Fe Brewing Co., Santa Fe, N.M., won Best Seasonal; Bitter American Extra Pale Ale by 21st Amendment Brewery won Best Character; Hop-A-Potamus Double Dark Rye Pale by Great River Brewery, Davenport, Iowa, won Best Illustration of Beer Name; and Colorado Kolsh Ale by Steamworks Brewing Co., Durango, Colo., won Best Local Tie-In.

Winners received a custom Canny Award trophy that includes their can graphics and recognition at the Craft Brewers Conference. The competition was sponsored by Broomfield, Colo.-based Ball Corp., Alberta, Canada-based Cask Brewing Systems, and Itasca, Ill.-based Hi-Cone and Mumm Products.

Judges for the competition included Donna DiGiola of The Art Institute of California-San Diego, Amy Galpin of The San Diego Museum of Art, Dave Mevoli of L. Knife & Sons, Randy Mosher of Randy Mosher Design, Tom McCormick of the California Craft Brewers Association, Robert Fondren of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, Ginger Johnson of WomenEnjoyingBeer.com, Jay Brooks of Brooks On Beer, Ashley Routson of the Beer Wrench Blog, Evan Hughes of Draft Magazine, Chris Fumary and Matt Kennedy of Brewbound.com/BevNet.com, and Matt Thomas of Whole Foods.

The full list of winners is available on the Canny Awards at www.facebook.com/cannyawards.