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Singapore changes rules for Cannes Young Lions competition to exclude foreign talent

MediaCorp's call for entries

MediaCorp’s call for entries

A competition for young creatives to represent Singapore at the world’s top ad show has changed its rules to allow only locals to enter.

MediaCorp, a national broadcaster that represents Singapore’s young creatives at the Cannes Lions, has said that only Singaporeans and permanent residents will be eligible for the Young Creatives competition this year, because of a government directive to support local talent.

The new rules exclude the many young creatives from overseas working in Singapore.

In previous years, Singapore has been represented by a mixture of foreign and local talent working in the city-state. Among the country’s representatives last year was Thai national Pimwadee Lai, now a copywriter at BBDO Singapore, and Filipino Paolo Agulto, a writer at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore.

In a statement, MediaCorp told Mumbrella:

The aim of MediaCorp’s Young Creatives competition is to provide a platform for our young creative talents to represent Singapore at the Cannes Young Lions Competition in France, which forms part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This is a global competition and each country can only send one team in each category.

In line with the government’s call to strengthen the core of Singaporean talents in key sectors, as well as Design Council’s strategy to groom local talents, the eligibility criteria of the competition has been altered to allow submissions from only Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.

Cannes Lions said that they were unaware of the rule changes in Singapore, and have “very little involvement” in the selection process.

To be eligible for the Young Lions competition, creative teams have to be 28 years old or younger, or 30 years old or younger for the Young Marketers competition. The rules do not require a country representative to be a citizen of that country.

The deadline for entries for Singapore’s Young Creatives competition is Monday, 14 April, having been extended from 9 April.

The judging panel includes Thomas Yang, deputy ECD at DDB Singapore, Clarence Chiew, creative director at Iris, Tay Guan Hin, regional ECD of JWT and Ajay Vikram, Southeast Asia ECD at Publicis, Alex Lim, creative director at Y&R Singapore and Mel Du Toit, ECD at TBWA Singapore.

The winners will be unveiled in the South of France in June.

Watch the ad for last year’s Young Creatives competition for Singapore:

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