Dubai Lynx has today announced the eleven Jury Presidents who will judge and award both the 2020 and 2021 entries. The Presidents represent the industry’s most esteemed global talent with a wealth of backgrounds, skills, and experience, and include distinguished female leaders, continuing the Festival’s commitment to promoting gender equality.
Following in the footsteps of Dubai Lynx’s sister festival Eurobest, which successfully held remote judging earlier this month, the Dubai Lynx jury presidents will lead judging remotely through a series of sessions for the first time. Some of the initiatives being introduced to the Dubai Lynx judging include spreading out the judging schedule into smaller, more manageable sessions, enhanced and developed technology to enable the replication of the technology of the existing award remotely, and a pre-judging consultation with each juror to ensure an inclusive environment sensitive to their individual set-up, which may be challenging in new ways.
On the judging of the Dubai Lynx awards Philip Thomas, Chairman, Dubai Lynx said: “Things will be a little different next year, with our Dubai Lynx juries meeting remotely for the first time. We have created a remote judging experience that’s as close to the physical judging as we can make it. It’s a crucial part of all of our LIONS awards; a human experience but also a rigorous and robust process. We’re delighted to have such an expert group of Jury Presidents in place to lead the judging and determine the region’s creative benchmark.”
The Dubai Lynx 2021 Jury Presidents line-up is as follows:
Film, Print & Publishing, Radio & Audio Jury President
Kate Stanners, Chairwoman & Global Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, Global
Kate Stanners is Chairwoman and Global Chief Creative Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi. After joining Saatchi & Saatchi 15 years ago, Kate oversees its creative output, the creative talent of the network, and has driven the agency’s spirit of ‘Nothing Is Impossible’. Stanners oversees global clients including Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Visa, HSBC, and Deutsche Telekom.
Brand Experience & Activation Jury President
Bas Korsten, Global Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson, Global
Bas was appointed Global Chief Creative Officer of Wunderman Thompson in 2019. Before this, Bas was Creative Partner at J. Walter Thompson’s Amsterdam office as well as JWT’s Global Futures Council Lead. Over the course of his career, Bas has been listed as one of the 50 most creative people of the year by AdAge and selected as ‘One of 10 Global Creative Leaders who are reinventing Advertising and the Ad industry’ by Adweek. To date, Bas has won 34 Lions and has judged at all major award shows.
Direct and Outdoor Jury President
Peter Khoury, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, South Africa
Peter Khoury is the CCO of TBWA\Hunt Lascaris and sits on the executive committee of the Creative Circle – a leading industry body for advertising creativity in South Africa. He also sits on the Loeries Committee – The leading African and Middle Eastern advertising award show, and the Facebook Creative Council for the EMEA Region. In 2018, Peter was named as the Most Admired Creative Leader in Johannesburg and in 2019 the runner-up as the Most Admired Creative Leader in South Africa in the annual Agency Leaders poll by MarkLives.
Digital and Mobile Jury President
Caitlin Ryan, EMEA Regional Director, Creative Shop, Facebook
Caitlin heads up Facebook’s Creative Shop across the EMEA region. She runs a multi-award winning and diverse group of creative directors, planners, producers, and entrepreneurs who collaborate with the industry to build inspiring and provocative work across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Oculus. Over the past several years, Caitlin has had the opportunity to work across the smallest and biggest, most dynamic and disruptive brands around the world; exploring the boundaries of great creativity that builds meaningful connections between people and business.
Design, Industry Craft Jury President
Greg Quinton, Chief Creative Officer, Superunion, UK
As Global Chief Creative Officer, Greg is responsible for the creative output of the Superunion network. His reputation for creative excellence is evidenced by over 250 awards including top honors at D&AD, Cannes Lions, Clios, New York Art Directors Club, Design Week, DBA Design Effectiveness, and the New York Festivals Awards. Greg loves judging and regularly joins international award juries and is also actively involved in D&AD design education.
PR Jury President
Valerie Pinto, Chief Executive Officer, Weber Shandwick, India
One of the youngest CEO’s of an Indian network agency, Valerie works closely with clients to change traditional models of communication towards more integrated offerings. Her success has seen her rated as the top 40 under 40 media professionals to watch out for in the Asia Pacific by Campaign Asia and is ranked as the top 10 women in Indian PR by Reputation India.
Media Jury President
Imogen Hewitt, Chief Executive Officer, Spark Foundry, Australia
Imogen is CEO of Spark Foundry, where she is tasked with delivering the merger of two of Australia’s most respected agency brands. Bringing over 20 years of industry experience in both media and creative agencies, Hewitt was listed on Campaign Asia’s ‘2017 Woman to Watch’ list and also recognized on the Women in Media Power List.
Film Craft Jury President
Laura Geagea, Managing Director & Executive Producer, The Sweetshop, China/Asia
Laura is Managing Director & Executive Producer of Sweetshop China, Asia. Fluent in English, French, Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish, Laura has worked all over Asia, both as a freelance producer and as Sweetshop Asia’s Executive Producer. In 2017, she opened the company’s office in Shanghai.
Entertainment Jury President
Luke Southern, Managing Director, DRUM, UK
Luke is Managing Director of DRUM, Omnicom Media Group’s award-winning content and creative agency that helps ambitious brands create their own cultural signals that cut through the clutter. Luke has led DRUM through a period of sustained creative growth and International expansion. He is a regular commentator on branded content and entertainment, from BBC World News to serving on the Cannes Lions Entertainment Jury in 2018.
Healthcare Jury President
Matt Eastwood, Global Chief Creative Officer, McCann Health, Global
Matt joined McCann Health as Global Chief Creative Officer in January 2019. Formerly Worldwide Chief Creative Officer of J. Walter Thompson, Matt was described by Campaign magazine UK as a “unicorn” in the communications industry. In 2019, Matt led McCann Health to win the coveted Healthcare Network of the Year at Cannes Lions, as well as bringing home the Festival’s Agency of the Year and the Pharma Grand Prix.
Creative Effectiveness and Creative Strategy Jury President
Fernando Machado, Global CMO, Restaurant Brands International, Global
Fernando is a global marketer with a passion for growing brands and businesses, having led hugely successful, multi-award-winning campaigns such as “Proud Whopper” and “Whopper Detour”. Having amassed more than 120 Lions in his career, Fernando is known for pushing the creative boundaries to drive business growth and has been recognized as one of the top 10 most innovative CMOs by Business Insider.
19 distinct Lynx Awards will be judged and honored, including the new Creative Strategy Award. The new Challenges & Breakthroughs section, added across seven Lynx Awards, celebrates work with a specific focus on local campaigns and cultural insights, as well as challenger brands and breakthroughs on a budget. This section also includes the new category ‘Market Disruption’, celebrating work that has creatively embraced an ‘adapt & adopt’ approach to their work in response to local/regional/global issues, embracing new ways of delivering their brand while showing consideration for the consumer.
The judging of the Dubai Lynx 2020 and 2021 Awards will take place in March 2021.
