Over 3,800 entries received for Abby Awards; judging process to begin from today
March 19, 08
Rishi Vora

GoaFest 2008 has received over 3,800 entries for the Abby Awards, which will take place on April 5, 2008. The names of advertising biggies to judge the entries have been announced and the judging process will commence in Mumbai from March 19, 2008. It is known that all the frontline agencies except Lowe and McCann have sent in their entries for Abby’s at GoaFest this year.

Well-known names that feature as Jury Chairmen include Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Indian and South Asia O&M, for the ‘Television’ category; Ramesh Iyengar, Managing Director, Select Direct, for ‘Direct Marketing’ category; Bobby Pawar, National Creative Director, Mudra, for ‘Interactive Digital Marketing’ category; KV Shridhar, NCD, Leo Burnett, for ‘Radio and Radio Craft’ category; Alok Nanda, Director Alok Nanda Communications, for ‘Out of Home’ category; Agnello Dias, National Creative Director, JWT for ‘Integrated Advertising’ category; Abhinay Deo of Ramesh Deo Productions, for ‘Films’ category; and Ravi Deshpande, Chief Creative Officer, Contract Advertising, for ‘Print and Print Craft’ category.

Madhukar Kamath, Chairman, AAAI, said, “We are delighted with the overwhelming response from the industry with over 3,800 entries for the creative awards. This year, with the entire fraternity coming together, we have some of the key players from our industry on the juries and are confident that Abby Awards at GoaFest will benefit from their collective experience.”

Jagdip Bakshi, Chairman, Goafest 2008, said, “In keeping with the tradition of GoaFest, this year, too, the judging process would be completely fair and transparent. It will be monitored by Ernst & Young, and the whole process would be recorded on camera. In addition, there would be no more than one person from each agency on any jury, including the chairman.”

Commenting on how things had changed at GoaFest than the previous years, Bipin Pandit, General Manager, Ad Club of Bombay, said, “AAAI and the Ad

Club joining hands has certainly benefited GoaFest 2008. Now that the two bodies have united for a single cause, we have different views and perspectives from people who are industry veterans. I am confident that GoaFest 2008 would be a huge success. The Awards ceremony would be the highlight of GoaFest 2008, and the entire advertising fraternity would be eagerly waiting for it.”

The Jury members for each category, headed by the respective chairmen, are: