The organizers of the Pitcher Awards held annually as part of the Creativity Week have announced the opening of entries for the 2019 awards show on Wednesday 21 November 2018. The Pitcher Awards now in its second year is quickly establishing itself as the voice of African creativity by spearheading respect, recognition and endorsement, where it matters most, for creative work coming out of the region.
Following the example of 2018, a compilation of the winning materials will be published in the international edition of the world’s number one creative magazine, Lürzer’s Archive volume 3/2019. This is the special Cannes Lions issue that will be distributed at the Festival and worldwide. In addition to this, the winning works will be celebrated online at the Lürzer’s Archive website
Also following the style of 2018, a special 2019 Pitcher Awards publication featuring a compilation of all the winning works will be presented to the over 16,000 delegates from around the world that attend Cannes Lions Festival annually.
Entry for Pitcher Awards is done online at the Creativity Week website (www.creativityweek.events). The Pitcher Awards will be judged by 3 main juries. The Heritage Category will include sub-categories like Film, Print, Design, Audio, Branded Content and Outdoor including Installations and Activations. The Channel category will include Use of Media, Data, Insight, Influencer, PR and Reputation Management. The innovation jury will judge Social Media, Websites, Apps, Games, Messaging platforms and Branded Devices and Novel ideas.
New for 2019 is the Pitcher for Good. The Pitcher for Good is given in recognition of exceptional work, communication or initiative by not-for-profit organisations that advance strong sustainability narratives with social or environmental issues. The for-profit category recognises work by a brand that goes beyond the expectations of regular CSR to creatively connect with its publics in a manner that clearly shows a strong purpose for social, environmental or sustainability values.
The organizers have also released the first name on the jury list. Mihnea Gheorghiu, the Global Creative Director of Publicis Italy has been introduced as the 2019 Pitcher Awards Heritage & Innovation Jury President.
Mihnea got into advertising when he was 19 in Bucharest, Romania. In the years that followed, he worked in Hamburg, Paris, London, Madrid, Toronto and New York. The work he created and creative directed over the years has won over a hundred awards (Cannes lions, Clio, D&AD, One Show, ANDY, New York Festivals, London International Awards, Eurobest, Epica). Since 2017, Mihnea has been the Global Creative Director in Publicis Milan, overseeing all the global work for DIESEL and Heineken digital.
According to Nnamdi Ndu, CEO of Creativity Week, "Mihnea built strong ties with several creatives in Nigeria through the Miami Ad School programme 'How to Create Great Ad Campaigns', where he taught Concepting for a long time by videoconferencing. Now he’s coming in person to deepen those ties. Mihnea’s amazing global success with Diesel and Heineken has been an inspiration, adding this to his West Africa experience working with creatives in Nigeria make him an unbeatable choice to lead the jury in both Heritage and Innovation categories in 2019."
Mihnea will work with other jury members to be announced soon in the two categories to find those great pieces of work that deserve recognition with the Pitcher Awards.
The Pitcher Awards show takes place during the Creativity Week from 25 – 30 March 2019 and celebrates the best of the best ideas in tech, marketing and creative communications from West and Central Africa. Special awards include Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, Young Pitcher Award.
Other programmes taking place as part of the Creativity Week include the Future Creative Leaders Academy (FCLA) an intensive professional immersion programme for university students, the Young Professionals Academy, a bespoke intensive programme to help young professionals fast track their career development. Both academy programmes include competitions where participants win tickets to attend Cannes Lions and Dubai Lynx. Also new for 2019 is the Creating a Better Africa programme designed to inspire social purpose and sustainability as well as the See It Be It Africa designed to help correct gender imbalance in creative leadership. Other Creativity Week programmes include Creativity Week Seminars and the Creativity Week Expo.