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The Fort Worth chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) announced this week that the judges for the 2024 American Advertising Awards, presented by GlassView, have been selected, and entries are now open for both professionals and students.
This year’s judging panel features multiple Cannes Lions winners, an upcoming judge for the CES Innovation Awards, former national judges for the American Advertising Awards and winners of local, regional and national ADDYs.
The panel includes James Whatley, chief strategy officer at Diva Agency; Savannah Peterson, founder and chief unicorn at Savvy Millennial; Mike Rainey, partner, chief creative officer & executive creative director at Brand Society; Stephen Curry, executive integrated creative director at Lewis Communications; Nok Sangdee, vice president and creative director at FCB Chicago; and Lauren Amsterdam, founder and chief creative director of Amsterland.
“This year, we made it our mission in Fort Worth to recruit a panel that is unequivocally qualified to judge every form of creative,” said Chris McIntyre, AAF Fort Worth’s American Advertising Awards chair, in a statement. “We have accomplished that mission, and we’re excited to open the awards with such a decorated group of judges who have worked with top brands such as Disney, Walmart, Hilton, Kraft Heinz, General Motors, and Coca-Cola.”
AAF Fort Worth’s annual American Advertising Awards competition represents the first step for those looking to win national ADDY Awards. Local entrants compete against each other in over 300 categories to earn ADDYs — awards that represent the best in the market. The winners advance to a regional competition, with the regional winners then competing at the national level.
“This year’s competition theme is Creative Revolution,” said Nick Utter, 2023 Best in Show winner and co-creator of the 2024 theme for AAF Fort Worth’s competition. “There’s a perception among creative professionals that artificial intelligence (AI) will make advertising jobs irrelevant in the future. Schaefer Advertising Co. and I wanted to push back on this idea by highlighting that AI tools and creative work can co-exist and that these tools can even enhance our work. To expand on the concept, AAF Fort Worth added an entry category that’s specific to the local competition — Artificial Intelligence Could Never.”
The deadline for early entries, which feature lower submission fees, is Nov. 22 at midnight, and the final deadline for entries is Dec. 31 at 10 p.m. Judging will take place from Jan. 6-20, and winners will be announced during Fort Worth’s American Advertising Awards gala on Feb. 23.
Individuals working in marketing and advertising in Tarrant County, northwest Texas and central Texas — including agency employees, in-house marketers, freelancers and university students — should visit itstimetosubmit.com to learn more and to enter the competition. Those interested in following the competition can do so on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.