For this year’s Loerie Awards, some 150 specialists have been invited to review over 3,000 pieces of work, at a cost of R500,000. Three of the judges are international creative leaders.
The Loeries committee has designed and built custom software to manage the entries and judging process. The entire process is independently audited and the committee will spend R350,000 to publish 1,000 copies of the results. For the first time the Loeries is introducing a ranking system.
All the judging panels are endorsed by the relevant industry bodies, which include the Creative Circle, Commercial Producers Association, Brand Design Council, Association for Communication and Advertising, the Digital Media & Marketing Association, and the South African Institute of the interior design professions
To be selected as a judge on the Loeries panel an individual needs to be a recognised leader in their field. As is the accepted practice at major global awards such as the D&AD awards, judges are primarily from a creative background; it is important that judges have won awards themselves, or have a senior and respected position in the industry that qualifies them to judge the entries.
Once the judging panel has been selected, the focus of the awards is to recognise and reward the best examples of brand communication in our region. The role of the jury is to reward excellence and to inspire greater things; the aim of the judging process is to seek out work and ideas that are exceptional, out of the ordinary. All work is judged according to six simple criteria:
· An innovative concept, bringing new and fresh thinking
· Excellent execution
· Relevance to the brand
· Relevance to the target audience
· Relevance to the chosen medium
· A client, independent from the agency
Work that does not meet the last criterion “a client independent from the agency’, ie. self-promotional work, will only be eligible up to a Silver Loerie. As The Loerie Awards represents Creative Excellence, it is crucial that criterion number one is met, ie. the work is fresh and innovative. If an entry meets all the other criteria, but is conceptually not new and innovative, then it will not be considered for a Loerie award.
All the results are audited by an independent auditing firm and the ballot sheets are stored for the full year after the results have been announced. All categories (Advertising, Communication Design, Experiential, Integrated Campaign and Student Entries) are judged in the same manner.
The Loeries Festival weekend takes place from 1 to 3 October.
