SA's VMLY&R announced as one of the finalists!

The campaign also features an original song by South African rapper, Sho Madjozi that she co-created with Edgars. The video is an electric exhibition of the multi-cultural melting pot of self-expression you’re only going to find on the streets of South Africa.

#WomensMonth: The rise and rise of Sho Madjozi

Ruth Cooper  28 Aug 2019

This year Epica received 3410 entries from 61 countries. The highest number of entries came from Germany followed by France and the United States.

There was an increase in entries from Georgia, Uzbekistan, Israel, Canada and China. New countries include Cyprus, Luxembourg, Armenia and Malta and in terms of networks, McCann Worldgroup was particularly well represented, while independent entrants continued their rise, now making up the majority of the work entered.

Seven South African entries on shortlist for the 2018 Epica Awards

6 Nov 2018

"Despite a general feeling of uncertainty, especially across Europe, agencies were able to find room in their budgets to send us their best work,” commented Epica’s editorial director, Mark Tungate.

“As a result, the jury had to work extremely hard to separate the brilliant from the good. We believe our shortlist already represents the ‘best in show’ and everyone on it deserves our congratulations.”

These finalists will go through to the grand jury, which meets in Amsterdam on 18-20 November. Gold and Grand Prix winners will be awarded during a special ceremony at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) on the evening of 21 November. Silver and Bronze winners will be published on the Epica Awards website the next day, 22 November.

The Epica jury is composed of editors and senior reporters from the world’s leading titles covering creativity and communications. They are supported by an online jury of journalists from specialists fields such as post-production, VR, design, luxury and fashion. A full list of jury members can be seen here.

Check out the shortlist

Agencies whose work did not make it onto the shortlist should bear in mind that noteworthy entries are also featured in the annual Epica Book, which will be released in September 2020.

*Disclaimer: Bizcommunity's Leigh Andrews and Juanita Pienaar are part of this year’s online judging panel. Note that the Epica Awards' judges don’t see entries from their own country.