Cannes Lions appoints first Chinese jury president

Lo Sheung Yan, JWT's Executive Creative Director, North East Asia and Chairman, China, to lead the Outdoor jury in 2012

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | November 11, 2011

The International Festival of Creativity today announced the first of 15 jury presidents that will lead the judging process at next year's edition of Cannes Lions. Lo Sheung Yan, known as Mayan among his peers, JWT's Executive Creative Director, North East Asia and Chairman, China, will lead the Outdoor jury in 2012.

Since joining JWT in 1996, Mayan, who is a member of JWT's global creative council, has helped the agency garner many prestigious regional and global advertising awards. JWT Asia Pacific was named Spikes Asia's 2009 Network of the Year, AdFest's Network Agency of the Year in 2008 and 2009 and JWT Shanghai was Adfest's Agency of the Year in 2009.

Mayan has made history time and again, producing many firsts in China's advertising industry. From winning China's first gold at the Clio Awards, to most recently leading China to win its very first Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2011 with Samsonite's press ad 'Heaven and Hell', which also went on to win three Grands Prix at Spikes Asia this year in the Outdoor, Print and Print & Poster Craft categories.

Making history again by becoming the first Chinese jury head at Cannes, Mayan is more than ready to lead the Outdoor jury, having judged and chaired various prestigious local, regional and international awards such as Longxi, Chinese Advertising Awards, Spikes Asia, the Clio Awards, Cannes Lions(twice) and ADC.

"The appointment of Mayan as Cannes Lions's first Chinese jury president is momentous, both for the Festival and for China. In the list of the most awarded countries at the 2011 Festival, China ranked joint 14th place (with Canada) and won its first ever Grand Prix,” comments Terry Savage, Festival Chairman. "Great creative work is coming from all over the world and countries that have never won major awards before are now sharing the stage with the more traditional winning countries. It's important that we recognise this shift and as such we are delighted to appoint Mayan, a truly inspirational creative, to lead the Cannes Lions 2012 Outdoor Jury," he continued.

Commenting on his appointment, Mayan says, "The Cannes Lions Festival represents and celebrates the work of people who are at the forefront of our industry. This appointment is a great honour and recognition for our fellow creatives in China. Our talent and limitless passion to push boundaries have slowly turned people's impression of China from one of an emerging market into that of an exciting country."

Mayan also has keen interests in theatre and song writing. He has written, directed, and acted in stage plays for over 15 years in Hong Kong and has also written lyrics for Asian pop songs and musicals. He is a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong and in 2009 the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce honoured him as one of the Outstanding Hong Kong People in Shanghai.

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