Cannes Lions 2021 Announces Three Jury Members from Ireland

Cannes Lions has announced its jury line-up of global experts selected to award the world’s very best creative work and benchmark excellence this June. 

The Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) is the official Irish representative for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and we are delighted that all three industry leaders selected from Ireland are from IAPI Member agencies. 

The Awarding Jury members from Ireland confirmed to judge the work for Cannes Lions 2020/21 are:

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; and Carol Lambert, board creative director, Publicis Dublin, joins the Industry Craft Lions awarding jury. 

This announcement strengthens IAPI’s ambitious plan to promote Ireland as a Centre of Excellence for the Commercial Creativity sector at home and abroad, as seen in the recent launch of IAPI’s unique platform, Ireland: Where Creative is Native last November to showcase the power and capability of Irish creativity to the wider world.

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

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. 

Emma Sharkey, chief strategy officer, Rothco part of Accenture Interactive, says: “I’m very excited to be judging the Cannes Radio & Audio category. It has been a challenging year for the world, but we’ve seen more than ever the power of creativity in action and the important role of communications. I’m looking forward to hearing the world’s best work.

Carol Lambert, board creative director, Publicis Dublin, says: “I absolutely love illustration, photography, animation and all things crafty. Cannot wait to get stuck into the Industry Craft judging. For me, craft is love. It’s caring enough about creativity to consider every tiny detail. And when you love your work enough, people love your work.

Rory Hamilton, founder and chief creative officer, Boys + Girls, says: “Delighted to be invited to judge this year's Cannes Lions. Great film craft has added so much to some of the most famous campaigns in history, so I'm really looking forward to immersing myself in some of the best work that the world has to offer.

Simon Cook, managing director, LIONS, says: “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.”