USA TODAY, official U.S. representative to the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, and co-sponsors Pereira & O’Dell, Starcom Mediavest Group and Tribal DDB announce the winners of the 2010 Young Lions “Team USA” competitions.
2010 Young Lions categories and “Team USA” winners are:
Cyber: Carla Ballecer and Karen Gereffi, R/GA
Film: Julissa Ortiz, BBDO and Alexandra Mainka, Atmosphere BBDO
Media: Diana Oropesa and Neil Hamel, Initiative L.A.
Print: Jenna Zink and Roger Fish, Arnold Worldwide
The 2010 “Team USA” competition included teams from agencies across the U.S. with more than 225 teams registering and 130 total entries. All competitors worked from the same brief and were asked to build awareness and support for the “United Against Malaria” program which will run in conjunction with the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
The four teams have been chosen to represent the U.S. and compete in the Young Lions competitions during the International Advertising Festival in Cannes with all expenses paid. Twenty international teams will compete in the Film and Media competition. Thirty teams will compete in Cyber and Print. Teams for the three creative competitions (Cyber, Film and Print) consist of an art director and a copywriter. The team for the Media competition consists of two media planning executives.
“As the official U.S. representative to the International Advertising Festival in Cannes we are always eager to see the results of the Young Lions competitions,” said David L. Hunke, president and publisher of USA TODAY. “As print sponsor, we are excited to encourage good ideas and good work in this medium and we’re incredibly proud of the U.S. team and look forward to watching them compete against their international peers.”
The 2010 print winners were chosen by Noel Cottrell, Grey Group, Jay Williams, Publicis USA, Merrin McCormick, SapientNitro, Alisa Wixom and Kris Wixom, TBWAChiatDay New York.
The 2010 Media competition consisted of two rounds of judging the media strategy plans each team was asked to submit. The top six teams from the first round of online judging were asked to New York to present their plan to the media panel of judges for the final selection of first place and Media “Team USA”. This year’s media judges were: Sarah Kramer, Mediavest Worldwide; Shane Ankeney, Initiative U.S., Nadine McHugh, Mindshare, Alan Cohen, OMD, Jim Poh, PohMedia, Lynn Pinkus-Lewis and Matt Kasindorf of UM.
“This year’s Young Media Lions contestants and winners are truly inspiring. They represent the next generation of media, digital and communications leaders who are poised, creative and assertive,” said Laura Desmond, Global CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group. “Investing in the future of our industry means to invest in our future leaders. SMG is proud to be a part of a The Young Lions program because it encourages healthy competition, rewards outstanding ideas and performance and provides an opportunity for our young stars to shine on a global stage. Congratulations Diana and Neil, and all the Young Lions winners.”
“The Young Lions is one of my favorite parts of the Festival. It’s a crazy,
adrenaline packed competition where we have a chance to see who are the people who will come steal our Lions and our jobs in a few years,” said PJ Pereira, chief creative officer of Pereira & O’Dell.
The Film competition was judged online by Kash Sree, Pereira & O’Dell; Steffan Postaer, EuroRSCG Chicago, Christian Haas, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and Margaret Keene, TBWAChiatDay.
“Fantastic digital executions today often come from the union of a great idea and technology,” said Robert Rasmussen, North America Chief Creative Officer for Tribal DDB. “This year’s USA Cannes Young Lions Cyber winners, Carla Ballecer and Karen Gereffi have shown they are very comfortable in this space. Talent like theirs is the lifeblood of our industry. We here at Tribal DDB are excited to see them take on the world this June in Cannes.”
Cyber entries were judged online by Robert Rasmussen, Tribal DDB, Shira Bogart, AKQA, Andreas Combuechen, Atmosphere BBDO, Jim Hord, R/GA, Alessandra Lariu, McCann Erickson, and Will McGinness, Goodby Silverstein & Partners.
On May 5, HP will celebrate the work of the four teams that will represent the USA in the Cannes Young Lions Competition at an exclusive event in New York City. The event will showcase the winning work in a custom magazine, printed on an HP Indigo digital press, and within an art exhibit, created with HP Scitex printers and a variety of innovative substrates.
Special thanks to Tribal DDB Chicago and PhenomBlue who developed the 2010 Young Lions promotion, “The Majestic Order of the Lionati”. This featured a website with audio messages from top leaders in the creative and media fields daring the younger generation of the industry to take the challenge and enroll in the competitions.
USA TODAY was founded in 1982 with a mission to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its flagship newspaper and popular Web site, USA TODAY engages the national conversation and connects readers online through social media applications. USA TODAY, the nation’s number one newspaper in print circulation with a total average daily print circulation of more than 1.8 million, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper Web site which launched in 1995, reach a combined 6.1 million readers daily. The USA TODAY news and information brand also includes: USA TODAY Education, USA TODAY Mobile, and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
