CAMPAIGN US BIG AWARDS 2021

The BIG Awards is Campaign’s creative program identifying the best work produced in the past year across media disciplines, sectors and creative excellence. But unlike other creative award shows, this crop of entries has been selected by a jury of up-and-coming creatives with three to five years of experience in the industry.

The goal was to create a valuable experience unique from other programs, involve emerging talent in forming industry opinions and hopefully surface some fresh work in the process. Creativity is changing for the better — becoming more diverse, democratized and global — and this program aimed to embrace and celebrate that. Thank you to our entrants and all of our amazing judges for making this a reality.

The Awards will bring together the U.S. advertising industry to celebrate all that it has achieved in the last year and inspire us for the future. We hope that you will join us at this year's event!

DATE: Wednesday, December 1

TIME: 6:00-10:00pm EST

VENUE: Fishbowl at Dream Midtown, 210 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019

DRESS CODE: Business Casual/Cocktail Attire

*MUST HAVE PROOF OF VACCINATION TO ATTEND

The BIG Awards is Campaign’s creative program identifying the best work produced in the past year across media disciplines, sectors and creative excellence. But we know the industry is oversaturated with creative awards showcasing the same work. So instead of the same faces and reels, we’re inviting young, diverse talent to judge the awards alongside a small group of senior peers.

Creativity is changing for the better — becoming more diverse, democratized, and global. Why not invite the future creative generation to help us shape the standards by which we evaluate it?

Creatives with up to five years of experience can apply to be a part of our judging panel by Wednesday, July 21. You and a group of peers will be paired with a senior mentor to deliberate the entries and decide what you think should be considered award-winning work. You’ll also be featured in a content series surrounding the judging panel on Campaignlive.com, and in a video compiled for the awards celebration in November. It’s your chance to take control of the narrative on the future of great creativity in this industry.

Advertising relies on awards programs because they are one of the only solid means to judge creativity. There’s no good way to quantify a warm and fuzzy feeling or a gut reaction to an amazing piece of work. Awards also stroke egos and generate healthy competition that makes work better.

But they can also be performative and, without enough thought put into them, continue to nominate the same people and honor the same work. For too long, the same faces have judged and won creative awards. It’s not only stunting the industry’s diversity progress, but also plunging agencies into a sea of sameness. It leads creatives to care more about gaming work to win awards than creating things people actually want to see.

We hope this program can elevate some new, diverse faces in the industry, and brands and agencies can use this showcase as a recruiting tool for the next generation of talent.

Let’s celebrate creativity and get inspired for the future.

Alison Weissbrot

US Editor, Campaign

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EVENT?

Amanda Hassler

Events Manager

E: amanda.hassler@haymarketmedia.com

QUESTIONS ABOUT SPONSORSHIP?

Rachel Barash

Senior Manager, Business Development

E: rachel.barash@haymarketmedia.com