Particularly noteworthy is the substantial growth in entries from outside South Africa, up 77% with 267 entries. "As the Loeries is now the largest and most respected measure of the work being done across Africa and the Middle East, it is great to see such growth in entries from across the region," said Loeries® CEO Andrew Human.

"From this year, all categories are open to the whole region and the awards ceremonies will be fully integrated. Also, the Official Rankings will now include an overall table for the region, as well as sub-tables. This will provide a comprehensive overview of who's doing what across the region."

The biggest growth across all categories came from the Ubuntu Category that recognises sustainable marketing, growing by 180% to 42 entries. "This was the strongest percentage growth across all categories, a good indicatorthat purpose driven marketing is being recognised as vital for the continuedsuccess of brands," added Human.

The Live Events, Activations & Sponsorship Category also showed strong growth, up 134% to 89 entries, while the Effective Creativity grew by 91%. This category is the business end of advertising and is the measure of business value that creativity adds.

The Service Design, and Music Video categories will be making an appearance for the first time at this year's Loeries® and have opened with a respectable 27 and 14 entries respectively.

Traditional Media - Television, Radio, and Print continued to show growth, and made up 60% of the overall professional entries. Within the category print showed the most significant growth of 77% with 616 entries. Television, Film & Video also showed a sizeable increase of 20% to 576 entries, with Radio growing by a notable 7% to 395 entries.

Somewhat worrying is the stagnation of entries in the Student Category, with 342 entries. "The stagnant student entry numbers may be cause for some concern that there is not strong growth in the entry of students into the industry," said Human.

"Building the creative economy is a major focus of the Loeries and it's vital that talented youth view the industry as a viable and attractive career option."

The category for Media Innovation is the only category that showed a decrease in entries, with a drop of 13% from the previous year's entries.

Loeries® Creative Week™ Durban is the biggest celebration of creativity across Africa and the Middle East. Not only will this year's event feature a myriad of activities like the Fringe Festival, the DStv Seminar of Creativity that will provide inspiration and insight from global creative heavyweights like Chuck Porter, Ali Ali, JJ Lee, Chris Clarke and more, the awards ceremony is the unique opportunity to see the best work being done throughout the region - and to see who's doing it!

Loeries® Creative Week™ Durban should be marked big in red on your calendar, and if you haven't got tickets to this year's most important creative event, you can still get tickets here. But hurry, it's around the corner!

OVERALL 2015 ENTRIES BY CATEGORY

Durban will be hosting the Loeries from the 10 - 16 August. Official events will take place at the Durban ICC and along the Durban beachfront during Loeries® Creative Week™. See the following link ofa detailed program http://www.loeries.com/loeries2015.aspx?link=festival_programme

Major Partners of the Loeries 2015

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN), the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, KwaZulu-Natal Province (EDTEA), EThekwini Municipality - Durban Tourism, DStv Media Sales, and Gearhouse South Africa

Category Partners

Adams & Adams, ADreach, Continental Outdoor Media, Film & Publication Board, Google, Independent Media, Mobile Marketing Association, Songstruct, Standard Bank, The Times, Unilever SouthAfrica, Woolworths, and YFM

Additional Partners and Official Suppliers
AAA School of Advertising, Antalis South Africa, Aon South Africa, Backsberg, BEE Online, Bioscope Films, Brand Council SA, Clive Stewart Photography, Egg Films, First Source, Funk Productions, Gallo Images, Graphica, Grid Worldwide, Hertz, Hetzner, King James II, Media FilmService, Multiprint Litho, Newsclip, Paygate, Rocketseed, Scan Display, South African Airways, Tiekie Barnard Consultancy, Tsogo Sun, Vega School of Brand Leadership.

Official Media Partners

[http://adlip.com/ Adlip.com]], Between 10 & 5, Bizcommunity.com, Brandwork Nigeria, Design Times, Film & Event Media, Ididthatad.com, Music in Africa, Nex Media, The Redzone.