Festival of Media Valencia launches awards

The Festival of Media Awards (FMAs) will recognise creative use of media and effectiveness as well as media owner innovations and are designed to provide a showcase for the very best in media thinking from around the world.

The FMAs will reward excellence in media thinking wherever it resides be it media agency networks, full service agencies, media owners, digital specialists and out of home experts as well as the content experts and technology companies who are increasingly coming into a converged communications space.

Launched in association with Advertising Age and its global information products, the awards build on the Festival of Media's positioning as the place to celebrate the pivotal position that media now occupies in the communications landscape.

The award categories and the unique two-tier judging format were derived from a three-month consultation process with more than 30 leading client, agency and media owner organisations.

Brands and media companies from around the world will be able to enter 29 separate awards categories, with a further six “jury awards” drawn from the entry pool plus an additional award decided by the wider industry through online voting. Award categories include “Best Communication/Entertainment Platform”; “Best Consumer Driven and/or Community Campaign”; “The Advertising as Service Award” and “The Award for Branding Bravery”.

The new initiative is said to fill the gap between the growing influence of media and the many awards ceremonies that are still traditionally embedded in the research or advertising creation sides of the industry.

“These new awards are all about the transformation of the media industry,” said Charlie Crowe, CEO of C Squared, founder of the Festival of Media. “We were asked by the industry to bring this together and the initial feedback has been enthusiastic. ‘Media' has always been one of the largest costs for any global or local brand and thus doing it better - and in more addressable and creative ways - has never been more important as we look ahead to a tighter year in 2009. These awards have come at the right time - brands need better benchmarks and media specialists, agencies and vendors can finally receive the recognition their creativity deserves”.

The Festival of Media Awards will be run in association with Advertising Age, who will lead the call for entries and assist in the judging process. “We've seen the Festival of Media become one of the must-attend events on the advertising industry calendar and intend to put the full weight of the Ad Age brand behind the Awards initiative,” said Allison Arden, vice president and publisher of Advertising Age and Creativity magazines. “We are delighted to be a part of its development and look forward to helping lead this dynamic global effort.”