There was never much doubt who would win this year’s Agency of the Year competition.

If, as we said last year, we were to liken the contest to a 100-yard dash, the race was pretty much decided after the starter’s pistol was fired.

Geoffrey B. Roche & Partners jumped ahead of the rest of the field right out of the blocks, and remained in front until the finish.

The agency received consistently high marks from client judges and was the clear favorite of agency judges. Whereas other agencies in the competition scored high with some judges and low with others, Roche was given a strong vote of confidence across the board.

However, as the final scores show, it was a real scramble for the next positions.

In fact, we did not know who would finish behind Roche until the final judge’s scoresheet was returned.

Second place ended as a tie between McKim Baker Lovick/BBDO and the relatively young agency, taxi.

The third-place position, just a fraction behind, went to Montreal-based BCP.

And, since Leo Burnett and Cossette Communication-Marketing were so close to bcp in the running, we felt we should share this with our readers and include them in our presentation of winners as Honorable Mentions.