Judging week for this year’s Loerie Awards kicked off on 13 July at the AAA School of Advertising in Johannesburg with presentations from the three international jury chairmen, who talked about global trends and showed examples of their work.
Judging from the appreciative applause, it was clear that the large crowd found the work of Jan Jacobs (co-founder of Johannes Leonardo, New York), Jim Sutherland (co-founder of Hat-Trick Design, London), and Matt Shirtcliff (co-founder of Saatchi & Saatchi DGS, New Zealand) engrossing and innovative. (See August issue of Screen Africa for more on these presentations.)
Loeries chairperson Festus Masekwameng noted that the Loeries Judges Seminar was held every year to add value to the industry and to help inspire local creatives.
The importance of understanding the Loeries judging process was emphasised by Loeries MD Andrew Human. “The Loeries stand for creative excellence but there seems to be a misconception about what that actually means. We look at it in terms of brand communications and we’re looking for three things – innovation, execution and relevance to brand, medium and target market.
“Each of the judging panels votes first on an ‘in’ or ‘out’ basis. Those entries that are voted ‘in’ are the finalists and each judge scores every finalist from 0 to 100 points. The scores are then tallied, without the panels knowing the results, and given to the jury for nomination. A new innovation this year is that we’ve introduced discussion between the two rounds. It’s very important in the discussion phase to ensure that work is not overlooked and that positive discussion is generated.”
The Loerie Awards weekend takes place from 24 to 27 September in Cape Town.
