*Mr Ndu, Managing Director of CHINI Africa
By Andrew Onyejuruuwa
The Pitcher Awards, described as the new Pan-African benchmark for creative excellence, has announced the jurors for the 2020 edition. The Pitcher Awards, which was formerly restricted to creative works within West and Central Africa, recently broadened its scope to include all work created, released or implemented anywhere on the African continent.
Nnamdi Ndu, Managing Director of CHINI Africa, Cannes Lions official festival representatives in Nigeria and organisers of the Pitcher Awards, in a statement said: “Pitcher Awards is our strategy to raise the profile of African creativity in the world. It is a massive task, but also one that its time has come. We are indeed extremely happy to welcome the champions and stars of our profession from various countries in Africa to help us make this vision a reality. ”
In line with this, the Awards is also expanding its jury membership to include jurors from more countries including South Africa, Kenya, and Cote d’Ivoire for the 2020. The jurors were selected from the highest caliber of professionals in the African advertising and creative communications industry, some with decades of experience in various countries. They include multiple-award-winning Chief Executive Officers, Creative Directors, Managing Directors, and Digital Marketing Professionals from across top creative agencies across Africa.
The Pitcher Awards has four main categories and will be judged by three different juries. The Heritage jury will judge Film, Audio, Print, Design, Branded Content and Outdoor materials including Installations and Activations. The Channel jury will judge entries for Use of Media, Use of Data, Use of Insights and Strategy, PR and Reputation Management and Integrated Campaigns, while the Innovation Jury will look at works in Social Media, Websites, Microsites and Web Services, Apps, Games, Messaging as well as Devices and Novel ideas, in addition to the Pitcher for Good sub-categories.
The 2020 Pitcher Awards jury members are as follows:
Channel Jury: Jury President: Emeka Chris Okeke, Founder and Group Chief Executive, Media Fuse, Dentsu Aegis Network; Austin Efienamokwu, CEO, Universal McCann, Lagos, Nigeria; Uwem Afanide, Chief Operating Officer, All Seasons Zenith, Nigeria; Jason Nartey, CEO & CCO, The Storytellers, Accra, Ghana; Lenny Nganga, CEO, Saracen Media Group, Kenya and Jennifer Leppington-Clark, Managing Director, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, South Africa.
Heritage Jury: Jury President: Ivan Johnson, Executive Creative Director & Partner, 3Verse, Capetown, South Africa; Maurice Ugwonoh, Creative Director, Noah’s Ark, Lagos, Nigeria; Chris Ogunlowo, Creative Director, SO&U Limited, Nigeria; Adesola Kosoko, Creative Director, X3M Ideas, Lagos, Nigeria; Emmanuel Amankwah, Creative Director, Now Available Africa, Ghana and Jonah Otieno, Founder, 5ive Africa, Kenya.
Innovation Jury: Jury President: Fiona Uwagwu, Managing Director, Ogilvy Nigeria; Conraad Kakebeeke, Digital Operations Director, OMD, South Africa; Sabine Gomis, Business Director, PHD Phoenix, Cote d’Ivoire; Olatomide Asher, Director of Strategy and Key Business Services, Wild Fusion, Nigeria; Oluwatoni Akintayo, Digital Marketing professional, ROI Digital, Nigeria and Ola Olowu, Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer, Isobar, Nigeria.