Recognising remarkable results: Introducing the 2023 Effie Awards Jury

The jury members, entrusted with Awarding Ideas that Work®, have been carefully selected based on their knowledge and experience within the marketing, communications, and advertising sectors. The 2023 panel consists of esteemed industry leaders and trendsetters drawn from various disciplines on both the client and agency sides, including the C-Suite, senior management, strategy, digital, creative, research, and media.

To provide an even better experience for agencies and marketers submitting entries, the Effie SA committee, following a request for approval to Effie Worldwide, has implemented key changes in the judging process for the 2023 Effie Awards South Africa.

• There has been a reduction in the number of overall judges selected this year, but an increase in average seniority of the judging pool.
  
• Second-round judges will be drawn from the first-round panel, ensuring increased consistency in the adjudication process.
  
• Second-round judges will be exclusively selected from participating judges representing ACA member agencies, along with leading marketers.
  
• Another critical change is the extension of time allowed for reading cases prior to formal judging, now extended to seven days, ensuring a more thorough review and well-informed judging process.

"We are absolutely thrilled with the calibre of judges for this year’s Effie Awards. As a collective, they represent a truly diverse and representative selection of the entire sector, consisting of top-level, experienced professionals from both the client and agency sides. The individuals entrusted with awarding cases represent a variety of advertising and marketing disciplines, which are key to an effective and equitable process," says Mathe Okaba, CEO of the ACA.

The first-round judges will review, discuss, and score submissions on 19 July 2023, after which the panel will finalise the "shortlist" that will proceed to the second round.

During the second round on 8 August 2023, all shortlisted campaigns that have proven to be effective and have achieved marketing objectives will be evaluated by the second selected panel of judges. This round will involve scoring and identifying campaigns that will be awarded finalist status and deemed deserving of a highly respected Effie Award.

The top honour, the Grand Effie, will be judged by a third jury, once again drawn from the existing jurors, together with extra participants. The Grand Effie judging panel consists of C-Suite representatives who are tasked with awarding the most effective campaign of the year. Grand Effie winners are not guaranteed; however, campaigns worthy of such an award will only be considered among the Gold Effie winners selected in round two. The Grand Effie judging will take place on 30 August 2023.

"We look forward to the panel once again confirming and highlighting the value our industry delivers to the marketing and communications sector. We are thrilled to announce that we have made tweaks to the programme, particularly with respect to improving the judging process and look forward with great pleasure to announcing the most effective work of the year on September 15th at the Gala event," comments Okaba.

Joe Public co-MD and Jury co-chair, Mpume Ngobese, adds: " We are privileged to have a jury comprised of such esteemed professionals entrusted with selecting the work that truly delivers results. The varied panels employed by the Effie program ensure that winning cases will have been subjected to extensive rigour throughout the adjudication process. I look forward to highly engaging and valuable discussion and debate during the various rounds of judging."

Effie Awards South Africa 2023 Round 1 Jury

“It’s an honour to be co-chair of the 2023 Effie SA jury with Mpume and I'm truly excited about seeing and being part of the adjudication process, as we seek to recognise the most effective work our industry has to offer. We’ve taken extra care to see how we can improve the entire process this year and we’re confident that these changes will further improve this amazing platform. I’m committed to working with our jury, to find and recognise our industry’s strongest ideas that prove their business impact,” adds Pete Case, creative chairman of Ogilvy SA and Jury co-chair.

Tickets for the 2023 Effie Awards, taking place on 15 September are available for purchase exclusively online via the dedicated ticketing portal by clicking here.

The Effie Awards South Africa is hosted by the ACA and sponsored by Nedbank, Investec and GIB, recognises marketing communication that is not only creative but, most importantly, effective.

The awards are in proud partnership with the Nedbank IMC Conference, Africa's foremost integrated marketing conference. Attendees will gain valuable insights at the Nedbank IMC conference taking place during the say, and then witness how these insights are applied to achieve remarkable results at the Effie Awards Gala in the evening.

Join the conversation using the hashtags #EffieAwardsSA, #MarketingUpClose, and #NedbankIMC2023. For more information on the 2023 Effie Awards, visit www.effieawards.co.za.