Araw Awards intensifies criteria for judging

The18th Philippine Advertising Congress celebrates Filipino Big Ideas as the key to progress. In line with the theme, the Araw Awards, which is organized by the Advertising Board of the Philippines, has adopted innovations that reflect the realities which the globalizing advertising industry has faced in recent years. Implemented reforms which include redefining the criteria for judges, as well as the introduction of new categories such as Direct Mail and Interactive, were based on the suggestions of previous Creative Committee members. These were designed to improve the caliber of competition and focus on the best work, a necessary move in the face of intense global competition.

The Araw Awards drew a total of 3,166 submissions from over one hundred entrants. 4A’s member agencies, media outfits, as well as production houses submitted entries in over eighteen categories.

At the helm of this year’s Araw Awards is Peachy Todino-Pacquing, the chair of the Competitions Committee. The Competitions Committee is composed of Creative Directors from leading advertising agencies. Aside from monitoring the actual judging, the committee was tasked with selecting the judges, as well as pre-screening all the entries. The pre-screening process was an integral part of the competition, as it determined whether or not submissions met all the eligibility requirements that were outlined in the rules. Entrants with submissions that failed to meet the eligibility requirements were notified and given enough time to submit the necessary requirements. In keeping with the rules, those that failed to do so were disqualified.

As part of the global thrust of this year’s Advertising Congress, overseas judges were invited to sit on the fourteen-man jury that judged TV, Print, Outdoor and Multi-Media entries. Each overseas judge is a leading figure in his own market, and has achieved significant international success. Sonal Dabral from Ogilvy and Mather in Kuala Lumpur, David Blackley from BBDO Clemenger, Norman Tan from J. Walter Thompson in Singapore, Jureeporn Thaidumrong from Saatchi & Saatchi Thailand and Steve Elrick from BBH Singapore judged entries in tandem with local industry leaders such as Emily Abrera of McCann-Erickson, Yoly Ong from Campaigns & Grey, Mario Monteagudo from Creative Partners, and Melvin Mangada from TBWA-SMP. Local executive creative directors with overseas representatives opted to give up their slots in the TV, Print, Outdoor and Multi-Media jury in order to ensure balanced representation. Three other juries composed entirely of local industry members judged the remaining categories. Specifically, there was an eight-man jury for Radio, a seven-man jury for Direct Mail Design and Interactive, and nine jurors for Broadcast Crafts.

According to Peachy Todino-Pacquing, the selected judges each had to meet stringent criteria. Judges were chosen according to their merit and credentials, as well as their status as industry pillars. "Judges were Creative Guild Ad of the Year winners, Araw platinum winners, Cannes or Clio award winners and Araw Gold winners. Overseas judges also had to meet the set criteria," she explains. "We were also careful to form juries that reflected agency population. For example, since McCann is the largest agency in the Philippines, they had four representatives, one on each jury."

The Araw Awards judging was held at the Hotel Intercontinental from Oct. 6 to 8. For three days, judges viewed thousands of entries, some of which were described as truly "world class."

Drawing from the experience as the official auditors of the Araw Awards since 1989, respected auditing firm Punongbayan and Araullo introduced additional safeguards to protect the integrity of this year’s results. Unlike in previous years, Punongbayan and Araullo used their own runners to deliver the judging sheets directly from the judges to the auditors. They also used two tabulation processes, manual and electronic and instituted a number of checks, to ensure that the results were a hundred percent accurate.

The finalist list, which was tabulated by Punongbayan and Araullo, was released last Oct. 13. Over 431 print, television and radio entries with world-class standards emerged as Araw Awards finalists. According to Creative Committee Chairman David Guerrero, "We hope the results will provide us all with the inspiration and direction to reach our goal: To make the Philippines a regional center for creative excellence, and a significant global creative competitor."

The Araw Awards night, as always, happens after the official closing of the 18th Philippine Advertising Congress. It will be held at Camp John Hay’s CAP Convention Center on Saturday, Nov. 22. Tickets are still available for non-delegates, at P500. To reserve your tickets, call 482-0002-03.