Festival of Media Awards Get More Than 650 Entries

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The 28-member jury gathering in London next week will have to sort through more than 650 entries from 52 markets around the world to select the finalists for this year's inaugural Valencia Festival of Media Awards.

Launched in December in partnership with Advertising Age, the new awards are designed to celebrate the contribution of media thinking to great campaigns, as well as efforts and strategies devised by media owners. The 29 categories place a heavy emphasis on the ability of great ideas and strategies to deliver results. Up to five entries will be shortlisted for each category, and the jury will reconvene in Valencia to consider video submissions before selecting the winners. The Festival of Media will be held April 19-21.

The jury will also award four Grand Prix awards: the Creativity Award; the Effectiveness Award; the Partnership Award; and Media Owner of the Year. Agency of the Year and Media Agency Network of the Year will be calculated based on results in all 19 campaign categories and the jury awards. Shortlisted campaigns will also be entered to win the People's Award, which will be voted on by marketers, planners, strategists and anyone else in the industry interested in casting a vote.

Jury members include Laura Klauberg of Unilever; Maarten Albarda of the Coca-Cola Co.; Jack Klues from VivaKi; Carl Johnson of Anomaly; Matt Seiler of Universal McCann; and Will Collin, founder of Naked.