International jury president for the digital category, Shannon Washington during Day 1 of the 2023 Loerie Awards judging at City Hall

The juries have been hard at work already, for two days, judging the entries. This year the juries – comprising more than 110 jury members - adjudicated over 2,100 entries, that represent 619 brands by 219 agencies from 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East.

Five international industry experts joined local experts to determine the best creative work for this year - Brad Reilly, CCO, McCann Enterprise, UK, Geet Rathi, Creative Director VP, Area 23, Atlanta, USA, Marco Venturelli, CEO and CCO Publicis Conseil and CCO Publicis, France, Paul Chan, CCO, Cheil, Hong Kong and Shannon Washington, US CCO, R/GA, NY, US.

Creative Week activities

Apart from the two awards ceremonies that take place later this week, Loeries Creative Week plays host to a number of activities including, Masterclasses and its International Seminar of Creativity, both feature experts in their field, both local and international.

The inaugural Agency Expo is also an opportunity for the public to see what the brand communications space does and talk to creatives. Events include:

• On Wednesday the Agency and Student Expo is open to the public. Both expos run until Friday.
  
• Also on Wednesday is the Loeries’ Schools Programme, with 50 scholars spending the day learning about the creative industry.
  
• On Thursday the highly anticipated Masterclasses take place with topics ranging from unpacking the role of the public broadcasters to women in the workplace, culture and Black creativity, collaboration and native content. Speakers include local DJ Sbu, Mofaya Energy Drink founder and South African seasoned broadcaster, Brenda Khumalo, founder & MD at Lobengula Advertising, Davin Phillips from CSA Global Davin Phillips from CSA.global, Gregory Edwards, president & CEO, UniWorld Group, Inc. (UWG), New York, the Black-owned and led UniWorld Group, Inc., and the longest-standing multicultural advertising agency in the US, Msimeki Nkatingi, MD of Woosh and Deanne Hofhuis, Creative Agency Partner, TikTok METAP.
  
• On Friday the second educational event, the International Seminar of Creativity takes place, with international experts such as Aleta Miller, UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office Representative, Ali Rez Greg Edwards, President & CEO, UniWorld Group, Inc. (UWG), US, Jochen Bischoff, Head of Global Business Solutions, Africa – TikTok, Steve Babeko, CEO/Chief Creative Officer X3M Ideas, Nigeria, and Svetlana Polikarpova, Founder and Director, Tandem Network, Kenya as well as some of the international jury presidents.

The awards ceremonies take place on Thursday and Friday evenings, with the Loeries Afterparty at Cabo Beach Club wrapping up Creative Week.

For more information: www.loeries.com