New York Confessionals: You be the judge
Chris Kyme (left), the CEO of KymeChow Hong Kong, is in New York for the New York Festival Awards judging. Here’s his day two blog on the judging which began with a 13 hour day.
So we survived the first gruelling 13 hour days of mind-numbing judging, wading our way through the pre-selected Finalists and by the end of it, coupled with also equally mind-numbing onslaught of that old pal jetlag, I was so frazzled that when somebody asked me “Hey Chris, have you ever had your nostrils manicured?” I couldn’t answer. I just couldn’t recall. Something as simple as that.
But it’s a very thorough process here and the show will be all the better for it. Not only that, looking around the room, I am in extremely honoured company. This is no room full of slouches as you’ll gather with a cursory perusal of the Executive Jury. They are all people who have been there and done that, nothing to prove.
Also, as explained by Michael Demetriades in his opening address, one of their considerations is to have a jury moderator – but no jury President. Hey, isn’t that leaderless? You might ask. But look at it like this. It also means less politics, because not everybody can be trusted with the responsibility that comes with that position.
A case in point. Last year I was having a conversation with a highly awarded senior creative who recounted a run-in he’d had with a Jury President, a well-known global CCO (hey, I’m not naming names okay?) at another big show, over a particular piece of work that was being considered for an upgrade from Silver to Gold. They argued. The guy telling me was seriously pissed because he felt justice wasn’t being done. And his take on it was this. The Jury President did not want to see the work in question being seen to go Gold, as it was for a brand his own agency handled in other markets than the one the work in question was created in. In other words, he was putting his own selfish interests before the good of the show. Leave a bad taste in your mouth? I’ll say. We all know that politics raises its ugly head in awards show but generally that happens more at local level (well, where the judges is kept local) than what you’d expect at a major international show. But shit happens.
This way you have a group of dedicated professionals doing their upmost to get to the bottom of what deserves recognition or not based on the best of their expertise. The proof of that will be in the pudding I guess. Having just been through the Digital and Film categories, we already have some idea of what cream will rise to the top.