Colleen DeCourcy, partner and global executive creative director at Wieden + Kennedy, has been named chair of the 2015 International ANDY Awards, presented by The ADVERTISING Club of New York.
DeCourcy, whose experience prior to Wieden spans such shops as JWT, TBWA and Socialistic, has served on several ANDYs juries, including the 2014 jury that recognized the industry’s bravest work in honor of the ANDYs’ 50th anniversary. A champion of infusing greater creativity into digital and promoting new applications of technology to solve business challenges, DeCourcy will tap a diverse jury of top global creatives to help recognize the most provocative and innovative work from the past year.
“It is an absolute honor to lead the ANDYs. The jury is world class, the show is integrated and it has always stood for creative excellence,” said DeCourcy. “The ANDY Awards have truly raised the bar for defining creative greatness over the last five decades, and I look forward to honoring those who continue to push this industry forward.”
Gina Grillo, president and CEO, The AD Club of New York and the International ANDY Awards, said that DeCourcy’s “positive voice is incredibly valuable to this industry. In 2014, we reached a milestone in ANDYs history, celebrating our 50th year by recognizing the best creativity in an evolving landscape, and Colleen has been central to that journey. I know she will continue to drive our mission to elevate the advertising industry and create one that is brighter and braver in the future. Colleen as ANDYs Chair is a natural fit as we embark on the future of creativity and invention in 2015.”
Entrants are eligible to win Bronze, Silver and Gold ANDY Awards. Winners also compete for the ANDY’s highest honor, the GRANDY. In addition to gaining prominence within the industry, the GRANDY winner receives a cash prize of $50,000. All Public Service Gold ANDY winners are eligible for the Richard T. O’Reilly Award (named in memory of the national director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America), the title of the best PSA of the year and a donation of $10,000 directly to the charity the winning work was created to promote. In addition, student entrants are eligible to win the Glenn C. Smith Award and Scholarship, named in honor of a past ANDY Chairman and given to the Best in Show student winner, who receives a $10,000 scholarship to further their creative studies.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More