The New York Festivals Torch Awards has announced its mentors for 2015, and this year, the five prominent international chief creative officers poised to watch over the proceedings include top executives from Havas Worldwide and AKQA. Havas Amsterdam CCO Rodger Beekman and AKQA UK's international executive creative director Duan Evans will both be mentoring participants, leading each of the selected finalist teams in an intensive session. Other mentors announced for the awards are Inbrax Chile CCO and co-founder Pancho Gonzales, Dentsu Vietnam ECD Masako Okamura and TBWA SMP Philippines managing partner and CCO Melvin Mangada.
The New York Festivals Torch Awards has announced its mentors for 2015
The Torch Awards invites young creative talent (25 and under) to compete in a creative 60-second spot challenge, which gives entrants a brief outlining of a marketing opportunity to assist a non-profit organisation and is then asked to present a 60-second pitch. The winning team will see their campaign go live. This year for the second annual challenge, New York Festivals has partnered with The Project Solution; an international non-profit organisation whose philosophy is centred on the idea that small solutions can make a big impact. The results: 5 years, 22 projects, 11 countries, over 12,000 lives changed. The mentors will help their teams prepare for the pitch, offering valuable advice and support.
González commented on the importance of mentoring the next generation of creative talent by saying that “The future of this business is based on new generations of advertising professionals.” He believes that “If every senior professional spent a little time with those creatives, the result will be better advertising tomorrow.” He added that “It’s not just about entering and awarding new ideas, it's about to showing them the right way to sell those ideas, to structure them as an integrated campaign, to do agile strategy, to converge those ideas across different platforms, and above all, it´s about being professional, judging and mentoring by the best in the industry.” He also admits that the Torch Awards are something he wishes existed when he was a young creative.
The awards invites young creative talent to compete in a creative 60-second spot challenge
The five finalist teams will be announced on March 31, with those teams due to convene in New York on May to present their pitches. The winning team will be announced live on stage at the New York Show gala the following day. The submission deadline for the awards is March 13 and there is no entry fee.
