First jury presidents announced for Eurobest

The first three of eight jury presidents are announced for Eurobest, Europe's premier creative advertising and communications awards. Now in its 23rd year, the Eurobest Awards form part of the Eurobest Festival, which takes place at the Handelskammer in Hamburg on 7 & 8 December 2010, providing two days of inspiration, debate, learning and networking.

The talented Fernando Vega Olmos, Creative Chairman of JWT Continental Europe and Latin America, will head the TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury. Widely regarded as Argentina's most revered creative, prior to his appointment at JWT Fernando was previously Unilever Worldwide Creative Director at Lowe and founder of Lola (Lowe Latina). Fernando has previously judged three times at Cannes including serving as Outdoor jury president in 2006.

Commenting on his role, Fernando said, "I'm thrilled to chair Eurobest in these categories. Europe is probably the region with the best work in most of these categories. I hope we can find fresh ideas to inspire people around the world".

The Interactive and Mobile Jury will be chaired by multi-award winner James Hilton, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of AKQA. James has been at the forefront of an industry which has seen AKQA grow to become the world's largest independent digital agency, with offices in London, Amsterdam, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Shanghai and Berlin. A Cyber Lions Grand Prix winner, James is featured in Creativity Magazine's Creativity 50 ' a list of the most influential and inspiriting creative personalities of 2010.

"My hope for this year's awards is that a focus is put on the ability to change behaviours and to advocate effectiveness. I'm so very bored of drawing competitions and merit based on accepted 'wisdom'. I want to see the innovators and outsiders up on the stage, I want to be surprised," said James.

Paris-based Jean-Pierre Beaudoin, Co-chair and Managing Director of Groupe i&e is named as the first jury president of the Eurobest PR category, which launches this year. Recognised as a specialist in the management of opinion strategies, Jean-Pierre has served over the years as a consultant to multinational companies as diverse as IBM, EADS, Essilor, Procter & Gamble, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Pfizer. He is also Associate Professor at Paris Sorbonne University School for Communication (Celsa) and served on the inaugural Cannes Lions PR Jury.

Jean-Pierre commented, "As the first PR Jury in the Eurobest competition, we shall endeavour to identify and recognise such programmes which best exemplify the vital contributions of the discipline to the success of corporate and brand management."

"Bringing valuable knowledge and guidance to the judging process, we are delighted to have onboard such highly respected industry heavy-weights as Fernando, James and Jean-Pierre," said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions, organisers of Eurobest.