Inside the Jury Room: Immortal Awards Ramp Up as Canadian Judging Gives Nod to Local Market

On Monday, a selection of Canada’s finest advertising minds gathered in Toronto to judge the country’s local round of the 2022 Immortal Awards. 

Meeting at the headquarters of Zulu Alpha Kilo in Toronto’s Riverside neighbourhood, challenged to adjudicate the best in Canadian creativity were Alexis Bronstorph (chief creative officer, No Fixed Address), Denise Rossetto (partner and chief creative officer, Broken Heart Love Affair), Graham Lang (chief creative officer, North America, TAXI) Ian Mackenzie (chief creative officer, Performance Art), Jenny Glover (chief creative officer, Juniper Park\TBWA), Lisa Greenberg (chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Toronto), Mike Dubrick (chief creative officer, Rethink), and Susan Irving (chief marketing officer, Kruger).  

“To be able to judge this session, in-person, in Canada for the first time was a real pleasure,” said Paul Monan, awards director at Little Black Book. “A massive thank you to Zak and the team at Zulu Alpha Kilo for supporting the Immortals in Canada and allowing us to do this day together. The discussions around the table were hugely positive and celebratory of Canadian creativity, and with so much depth in quality on the shortlist this year, it was at times challenging to whittle it down to a body of work that the jury believed could go far in the competition. There are some truly fantastic projects that have made the Finalist list, and we can't wait to see how they do when they go up against the best work from the US in the next round."

Paul refers to the fact that the Canadian gathering marked the very first judging session for the 2022 Immortal Awards in North America. Any Canadian projects that made it to the Finalist list will be joined by the Finalists from the US jury day - which will be announced early next week  and receive further consideration at the North American round of judging on Friday November 4th. From here, the best work from North America will then qualify for the final, global round of judging, which will take place on December 1st and see the Finalists from every region compete for an Immortal Award or Commendation status.

Following a day of fun and positive discussions, the 22-project Canadian shortlist was halved, with 11 projects being given the nod to qualify for the North American round of judging.

Black & Abroad - The Black Elevation Map (submitted by Performance Art Canada)

Black Business and Professional Association, Toronto Metropolitan University's Diversity Institute, Canadian Congress on inclusive diversity and workplace equity, Pride at Work Canada - The Micropedia of Microaggressions (submitted by Zulu Alpha Kilo)

Canadian Women's Foundation - Signal Responders (submitted by Juniper Park\TBWA)

Kraft Heinz - A.I. Ketchup (submitted by Rethink)

Lotto Max - Dream Drop (submitted by FCB Toronto)

Milk-Bone - Chewpons (submitted by Leo Burnett Toronto)

Mondou - New Year's Gathering (submitted by LG2)

Penguin Random House - The Unburnable Book (submitted by Rethink)

Pizza Pizza - Fixed-Rate Pizza (submitted by Zulu Alpha Kilo)

Royal Ontario Museum - Immortal (submitted by Broken Heart Love Affair and Moonlighting Film Production Services)

SickKids Foundation - SickKids VS Be A Light (submitted by Cossette and Outsider Editorial)

Following the morning session, two of those projects received unanimous approval from the jury: ‘The Unburnable Book’ and ‘The Black Elevation Map’. Both projects received the rare Immortals accomplishment of receiving a full house of votes - sending them to the next round immediately. 

For ‘A.I. Ketchup’ and ‘SickKids VS Be A Light’, both were discussed through the lens of being follow up/sequel projects, and compared to their previously super high standards (both had done well at the Immortals in previous years). Nevertheless, both were deemed to have maintained the previously set bars of creative excellence, and were of a high enough standard to represent Canada on the continental stage. 

Other notable mentions included Lotto Max’s ‘Dream Drop’, which received praise for the way in which it tapped into a youthful audience and garnered actual results, and Pizza Pizza’s ‘Fixed-Rate Pizza’ which was positively received for being a fantastically simple, relatively universal idea that other brands would be jealous of.

With all said and done, the jury also noted compared to last year's extremely tough/critical voting, more pieces had been put through this year. And, of this year’s pieces, there were a special couple of super local pieces which really represent the market that is Canada.