7 Out Of 11 Jurors From India In Cannes Lions Festival Are Women

The 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is all set to begin from June 17 in Cannes, France. The organisers have released the final list of jurors for the festival and we can proudly say that 11 selected jurors are from India. What’s even more impressive is that out of 11 selected jurors, seven are women, which makes it approximately 63 % of the jurors selected from India.

The judges from India

The jurors selected from India are Deepshikha Dharmaraj, MD, Genesis Burson Cohn Wolfe (PR jury); Ishteyaque Amjad, VP, Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability, Coca Cola (Sustainable Development Goals jury); Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu (Direct jury); Praful Akali, Founder and MD, Medulla Communications (Pharma jury); Garima Khandelwal, Chief Creative Officer, Mullen Lintas Group (Film jury); Rathi Gangappa, CEO, Starcom (Media jury); Sandipan Bhattacharyya, Chief Creative Officer, Grey (Brand Experience & Activation jury); Saurabh Varma, CEO, South Asia, Publicis Groupe (Creative Effectiveness jury); Geet Rathi, Creative, Design Director, TBWA, India (Health & Wellness); Malvika Mehra, Cheif Creative Officer, Dentsu India (Design); and Tista Sen, Senior Vice President, National Creative Director, JWT, India (Glass).

The women’s share in jury was 46% last year. Since it has gone up to 63%, it is good to see that gender diversity is being promoted on the international platform.

The women’s share in jury was 46% last year. Since it has gone up to 63%, it is good to see that gender diversity is being promoted on the international platform. Garima Khandelwal, who is a first time jury at the festival spoke to Exchange4Media and said, “The ratio is in conversation because this year we have spoken about the need for gender balance more than ever. It’s heartening to see capable and respectable names at the world stage, and I am also glad there are a lot of first-time jurors in this year's jury.”

Focus on solutions to real problems

Deepshikha Dharmaraj, who is the managing director of Genesis BCW, is judging the public relations category this year. Being nominated as a judge for the creative Cannes Festival was a matter of immense joy for her.  After overcoming her excitement to judge at the international festival, she came across the ‘many’ entries from all over the world. What’s intriguing is that the standard of work is high in all of them and hence it is difficult to do justice to every work presented there. “To get more PR winners from India we need to focus on solutions to real problems and issues facing our country and culture and then be able to measure the impact our campaigns deliver, especially on outcomes and business results.” she says.

The festival is a five-day affair and explores and encourages new ideas in terms of brand marketing.

Cannes Lions Festival explores the creativity and awards the best. The festival is a five-day affair and explores and encourages new ideas in terms of brand marketing. The selection of 63% women juror from India ensures that we are doing good in the field of women empowerment.

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