All Five 2021 Cannes Lions Jurors from Ireland Unveiled

Karl Waters, creative partner, Folk Wunderman Thompson, Ireland has been announced as the fifth and final creative professional from Ireland who will judge the work for Cannes Lions 2020/21.

Karl has been appointed as a member of the Brand Experience & Activation Lions shortlisting jury, commenting: “I’m delighted to be a judge at Cannes this year, the festival I always look to for inspiration. The Brand Experience & Activation category has produced some truly incredible work in the past, I’m sure this year will be no different.

This is the first time Ireland has three Awarding Jury members and two Shortlisting Jury who will be joining the stellar line-up of global experts selected to award the world’s very best creative work and benchmark excellence this June. 

The five Cannes Lions jury members from Ireland are:

- Carol Lambert, Board Creative Director, Publicis Dublin, joins the Industry Craft Lions awarding jury.

- Emma Sharkey, Chief Strategy Officer, Rothco part of Accenture Interactive. joins the Radio & Audio Lions awarding jury

- Rory Hamilton, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Boys + Girls, joins the Film Craft Lions awarding jury.

- Damian Hanley, Board Creative Director, In the Company of Huskies, Dublin, joins the Film Lions shortlisting jury. 

- Karl Waters, Creative Partner, Folk Wunderman Thompson, Ireland, joins the Brand Experience & Activation Lions shortlisting jury. 

Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI, commented: “We are delighted that five of the jurors IAPI proposed from Ireland have been selected for Cannes Juries. This announcement supports IAPI’s ambitious strategy to promote Ireland as a Centre of Excellence for the Commercial Creativity sector at home and abroad.  The recent launch of IAPI’s unique platform, Ireland: Where Creative is Native (www.creativeisnative.com) last November showcases the power and capability of Irish creativity to the wider world and, now it looks as if that wider world is taking notice.”

The Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) is the official Irish representative for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and through this relationship were able to nominate Irish industry figures for inclusion in the juries this year.

The Lion-winning work will be announced and awarded during Cannes Lions Live, a fully digital experience, running from 21-25 June 2021.

The Lions shortlist jury is made up of global creative professionals from around the world who judge the work online and in their own time to create the shortlist from the campaigns entered into this category.  

Ten of those jurors, the Awarding jury, then comes together as a group to discuss and deliberate the shortlisted work to award Bronze, Silver and Gold Lions and then the Grand Prix.

Jury members hail from across the world and represent the global industry’s leading talent from the broadest spectrum of disciplines. The juries also comprise 51% of female jurors, up from 48% in 2019. 

Simon Cook, managing director, Lions, commented: “It’s hugely exciting to welcome this formidable line-up of experts, who will unite across time zones and backgrounds, representing the full scale of our industry. Each year, our juries grow more diverse, which is part of our commitment to appoint outstanding talent from right across the breadth of our global community.”

Philip Thomas, Chairman, Lions, comments: “After pausing the awards last year, our juries will be awarding Lions across two years’ worth of work, which is an unprecedented opportunity to set the global creative benchmark for two years of outstanding creativity.”