Prasoon Joshi in AWARD committee

MUMBAI: Advertising luminary Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director, McCann Erickson South-Asia, and national creative director, McCann India, has been invited by the prestigious AWARD panel — The Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association — to be a part of its October sessions.

The juries will be led by chairman of judges Paul Catmur, ECD DDB NZ. Joshi will be judging TV and cinema, between October 10 and October 11. Fellow jurors will include James McGrath from George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, Tom McFarlane from M&C Saatchi Sydney, Mark Tutssel from  Leo Burnett USA, Khai Meng Tham from Ogilvy &Mather Singapore and Darren Spiller from Publicis Mojo Sydney. Other categories are print craft, radio, direct, interactive, marketing, mixed media, graphic design and interactive.

The Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association is in its 28th year now. Joshi says, “Well, the awards show would be an exchange of ideas, and also a reunion of sorts with old friends like Mark Tutsell and Khai Meng Tham. Tutsell, I met when I was judging in Clio and Tham was someone I knew during my tenure at O&M. AWARD is a prestigious awards show, and it showcases the best of the best in Australian advertising. It would help me draw parallels with India, and hopefully, help germinate new and better ideas that could work in the sub-continent. Also, any event like a Clio or an AWARD, is a meeting of minds. It helps you interact with some interesting creative minds from across the globe,” Joshi has been on the panel of several juries of prestigious ad festivals like the New York ad festival, Clio, D&AD and Media-Asia.

Paul Catmur says, “The AWARD team have put a lot of effort into bringing together a wonderful collection of individuals for the judging in October. We have tried to shake up the talent and spread it around the juries so that the usual suspects were not closeted around print and TV. While we have plenty of old heads, including the esteemed
Mark Tutssel, we also wanted to provide an opportunity for some new jurors to add youthful exuberance and perhaps even a touch of innocence.  Along with jurors from Australia and New Zealand, we also have some of the top creative talent in the world coming down from Asia.”

The print jury consists of ad luminaries like Matt Eastwood from DDB Sydney, Andrew Ostrom from Leo Burnett Sydney, Eddie Wong from Euro RSCG Shanghai and Steve Jackson from Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Joshi is the only Indian to figure in this list of hot-shot luminaries from across the globe.