The agency network also took home over 20 awards, including two gold. Keeping them company were King James, Net#work BBDO, and NATIVE VML, all taking home gold. The King James Group received more than 10 awards, while Net#work BBDO, NATIVE VML, Liquorice, and Hellocomputer all took home an armful of Awards.

Big winner of the night Ogilvy, on stage for their best digital agency award.

Publisher 24.com, a division of Media24, also swept the Awards taking home 15 awards, including two gold – one in the category mobile publishers, the other for publisher sites. It also received a craft gold for news/feature writing. 24.com was also recognised as best publisher in the Special Awards.

Pre-Award hype and hopes

There’s a lot of good work out there, from different agencies and in different categories, so he had no expectations on winning says Gloo@Ogilvy’s ECD, Matthew Barnes. “Being a finalist is already an accolade, especially as it’s for work that is real and delivers results for the client. I am really proud of the work we have done and delivered at scale in the market, and winning these awards is the best endorsement to everyone that worked on these campaigns as it proves that you can do real work.”

We are hoping that we win, but the competition was tough, said national news editor at 24.com, Ahmed Areff, before the announcements. “We are very proud of our apps, our stories and features. It takes blood, sweat and tears to produce what we do and winning is a fantastic way to recognise this. It is exciting and it makes us happy,” he says.

Last year’s best agency winner, NATIVE VML, was excited for this year. “Last year was big for us. This year was good, despite not being as big as last year. We have great campaigns for Absolut Vodka and Nedbank,” says Jason Xenopoulos, agency CEO.

Cecil Lyons, head of marketing at eNCA, expressed his pleasure with their wins for their Election Polls 2016 app. “We are very proud of that work and happy to have been recognised for it.”

Of the special awards, Livity Africa was recognised for the best contribution to transformation in the digital industry, with Matthew Buckland of Creative Spark recognised for best individual contribution to digital, while best marketer was awarded to Vanessa Singh from Nedbank.

Engaged, socially-minded digital campaigns that focused on the consumer and were socially relevant were the big winners in this year’s IAB Bookmark Awards.

Exciting industry evolution

Jerry Mpufane, chairman of the M&C Saatchi JHB Group of companies and Prakash Patel, chief digital officer at Fogg Experiential Design Cape Town, both served as judges this year. For Mpufane what is exciting is the evolution of the industry. “The entries show how the industry is moving, with entries from not only big agencies, but also smaller ones. Agencies – not traditionally digital agencies – are also entering, which adds an exciting edge to the industry.”

Patel agrees that the industry is growing and maturing. “I judge many international awards and the Bookmark Awards are exceptional.”

The Awards recognise the country’s digital industry’s top talent and best campaigns. This year saw a record number of entries. Congratulating the winners, Josephine Buys, CEO of the IAB SA said many of the campaigns exhibited groundbreaking digital knowledge and strategic relevance. “Our judges were inspired by the way our winning entrants combined courage, creativity and business savvy to create enduring work.”

Jarred Cinman, managing director of NATIVE VML and outgoing chair of the IAB, was also recognised for his contribution to the Awards.

View the full table of winning work below:

2017 IAB Bookmark Award winners