MIKE O’SULLIVAN TO CHAIR D&AD AMBIENT JURY, RALPH VAN DIJK TO CHAIR RADIO JURY

Theline up of Jury Foremen for the D&AD Awards 2009 was announcedtoday which includes Mike O’Sullivan, ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi NewZealand on Ambient and Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum, Sydney on Radio.The awards recognise the best work in advertising and design fromaround the world each year.

Foremen are leading creative specialistsand play a vital role in upholding D&AD’s high standards ofjudging.  They each lead a jury of creatives who will decide what workrepresents the best of the year and will be included in the D&ADAnnual. They will then decide what work sets new benchmarks ofcreativity and is therefore worthy of a D&AD Yellow Pencil.

SaysO’Sullivan (top): “The first time I experienced the honour ofD&AD was getting into ‘the book’ when I was a 23 year old artdirector in London. So to be foreman of a D&AD jury 18 years lateris pretty damn flattering.  Ambient is the category without borders.I’m looking forward to seeing where the industry is going to take it tonext. Roll on April 09.”

Says van Dijk (left): “I am so sick of namby pamby radio. Come on! We’ve heard it all before. Any work worthy of a Pencil challenges, inspires and kicks you right in the ‘I wish I’d done thats’.~It is high time  radio had a piece of that action. I’m thrilled to be Foreman at D&AD and I’ll be encouraging my fellow judges to recognize and reward the IDEAS that move the game on; new formats, odd lengths, unexpected voices, and~beautifully~crafted pictures. There are so many ways we can moved by what we hear, yet we barely scratch the surface on radio. Bring on the work that goes straight to our soul and bask in the well deserved glory.”

Eligible entries will be accepted from 15October until 21 January 2009. Work entered before 19 November willreceive a 10% discount.  Judging takes place from 20-24 April in Londonand the winners will be announced in June.

The campaign, created by TAXI Canada launches on 15 October at www.dandad.org/awards09. Details of D&AD jury members will be released from next week.