How can creativity make a brand unforgettable? How would you turn a simple product into a compelling brand with a tagline? A jingle? An out-of-home, out-of-the-box ad? Or new packaging?

Now’s your chance to show off your skills, ideas and creative vision—and win a trip to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. For the 2025 Ad Age Young Creatives Contest, we’re challenging talent from around the world to develop a bold, original creative idea to bring a fictional product to life.

All entries are free and the final deadline is Monday, April 21 at 5 p.m. ET.

What is the Young Creatives Contest?

The Ad Age Young Creatives Contest is a free global competition for the next generation of creative leaders. Entries are open to anyone, anywhere in the world who is 30 years old or under on June 18, 2025.

The prize? The chance to travel to Cannes for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, running June 16 through 20.

Ad Age has held the Young Creatives Contest for more than 10 years, honoring talent from Mexico, Singapore, the Philippines, India, Portugal, the U.S., Vietnam and beyond.

Who is eligible?

The contest is free and open to students, full-time agency creatives and freelance creatives who are aged 30 or under on June 18, 2025. You can live and work anywhere in the world, but your entry must be in English and you must be 30 or younger on June 18 to qualify.

What’s the brief for the 2025 contest?

This year Ad Age teamed up with consumer insights platform Zappi, leveraging its AI concept development agents to create a new sparkling water, called Cannes Eau on the Go.

Your challenge: Develop one compelling creative execution for this product, just as you would for a real-world client. This could take the form of a billboard, 30-second promo video, print ad or any other form of brand expression.

You will also need to submit a short, written pitch explaining the idea behind your creative execution, including what inspired it and how it connects to the brand. We also want to hear how consumer insights and reactions could help you refine or iterate on the idea.

The winner and finalists will receive exclusive insights from Zappi—offering a rare opportunity to understand how audiences respond to their creative.

Need inspiration? Check out our cheat sheet. 

What is not allowed?

This contest is about creativity and the power of original ideas and human imagination. Entrants are not permitted to submit previously published work, work that is not their own or work they do not have permission to use or publish. Given the copyright and intellectual property issues surrounding artificial intelligence platforms (as well as the platforms’ own terms and conditions), entrants are not permitted to submit AI-generated or AI-assisted work.

When is the deadline?

Entries for the 2025 Young Creatives Contest close on April 21 at 5 p.m. ET.

How do I enter?

Once you've finished your creative masterpiece for Cannes Eau on the Go, you will need to upload the file and fill out the entry form at AdAge.com/YoungCreatives. It's free to enter and you can enter as many times as you like.

What will my entry be judged on?

Judges will be looking for:

• Creativity and originality: How bold, fresh and engaging is the idea?
• Strategic execution: Does the pitch effectively explain the creative choices and their relevance to the brand?
• Flexibility: Does the creative approach show an openness to iteration, considering how consumer insights could elevate the original idea?

When will the winner be announced?

The winner and finalists will be notified in May, featured on AdAge.com and in the Ad Age magazine in June and celebrated at the annual Ad Age Lawn Party in Cannes on June 18.

More information on the 2025 Ad Age Young Creatives Contest, including eligibility, rules and guidelines, can be found at AdAge.com/YoungCreatives.