http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=139488  Today’s AdAge article, written by Michael Galin at MRI Starch, has a link to a slide show of the top ads measured through the research organization’s criteria. It’s interesting to view the results. Not necessarily "creative" examples of excellence. In fact, these do not align to how I would rate as great creative.
What is worth noting is the caption text with each, discussing why each was chosen as "most engaging" examples of print work. 
I, personally, find this shown work to be lacking creativity.
Still, worth a few minutes of your time to link over to view the work and gauge your efforts against these 10 winners. Then, ask yourself why. Why did these win over so many truly excellent and "creative" solutions?