Fernando Vega Olmos, creative chairman of JWT Continental Europe and Latin America, will head the TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio jury. Widely regarded as Argentina's most revered creative, prior to his appointment at JWT Fernando was previously Unilever Worldwide Creative Director at Lowe and founder of Lola (Lowe Latina). Fernando has previously judged three times at Cannes including serving as Outdoor jury president in 2006.
Commenting on his role, Fernando said, "I'm thrilled to chair Eurobest in these categories. Europe is probably the region with the best work in most of these categories. I hope we can find fresh ideas to inspire people around the world".
The Interactive and Mobile jury will be chaired by multi-award winner James Hilton, co-founder and chief creative officer of AKQA. James has been at the forefront of an industry which has seen AKQA grow to become the world's largest independent digital agency, with offices in London, Amsterdam, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Shanghai and Berlin. A Cyber Lions Grand Prix winner, James is featured in Creativity Magazine's Creativity 50 - a list of the most influential and inspiriting creative personalities of 2010.
"My hope for this year's awards is that a focus is put on the ability to change behaviours and to advocate effectiveness. I'm so very bored of drawing competitions and merit based on accepted 'wisdom'. I want to see the innovators and outsiders up on the stage, I want to be surprised," said James.
Paris-based Jean-Pierre Beaudoin, co-chair and MD of Groupe i&e is named as the first jury president of the Eurobest PR category, which launches this year. Recognised as a specialist in the management of opinion strategies, Jean-Pierre has served over the years as a consultant to multinational companies as diverse as IBM, EADS, Essilor, Procter & Gamble, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Pfizer. He is also Associate Professor at Paris Sorbonne University School for Communication (Celsa) and served on the inaugural Cannes Lions PR jury.
PR is included as a new entry section this year, honouring the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organisations and their publics. The inaugural Mobile category will honour creative excellence in mobile websites, applications, video, games and technology.
Attendees can view all the entries that will be judged during the two-day festival, as well as attend a rich programme of seminars and workshops addressing current issues of the industry in Europe.
Delegates registering before 1 November can enjoy an early bird discount. For full information on how to submit entries or attend the Eurobest Festival, please go to www.eurobest.com.
