Goafest 2010: Elsie Nanji, Ramesh Iyengar and Prakash Varma to chair creative juries

The trio will chair the design, direct and film craft categories respectively

For the Creative Abby awards at Goafest 2010, Elsie Nanji, managing partner of Red Lion, will be the jury chairperson – design; Ramesh Iyengar, founder, Select Direct Marketing will be the jury chairman – direct and Prakash Varma, director of Nirvana Films will be the jury chairman for the film craft category.

Last year Rakhshin Patel, consultant and director, M&C Saatchi Direct and Digital Communications chaired the direct jury; the film craft category was chaired by Ram Madhvani, director, Equinox Films; while the design category was judged by Nanji.

Goafest 2010: Elsie Nanji, Ramesh Iyengar and Prakash Varma to chair creative juries

Commenting on the appointments, Ajay Chandwani, director, Percept and chairman, Creative Abbys at Goafest 2010 says, "Elsie made the transition from advertising to design a few years ago. Her high standards of work are reflected in her output as a design professional. Ramesh has been one of the pioneers of direct marketing and among the first people to shift from mainstream advertising to direct. He brings with him rich specialized experience in the field."

On Varma's appointment, Chandwani says, "Varma combines the unique knack of storytelling that appeals to consumers and juries equally. It is a pleasure to have Prakash head the distinguished jury of ad film producers and directors in Film Craft at Goafest this year."

Iyenger has been part of Indian and international juries in the past. He was a jury member at Cannes Lions Awards for direct marketing in 2004 and 2005; chairman of direct jury at Abbys in 2006; chairman-direct at Goafest Creative Abbys in 2008 and chairman of jury for The Loerie Awards, South Africa for experiential marketing.

Under Nanji's leadership, Red Lion was the winner of a Gold award at Goafest, Silver and Gold Spikes at Spikes Asia, and a Silver Lion at Cannes, all in the design category.

Nanji is a recipient of many awards at both the Indian and international level. Her award-list includes the Clio Awards, Cannes Lions, D&AD and The One Show. She has also won the Art Director of the Year award in India, three years in a row.

On the other hand, Nirvana has won the Grand Prix at Goafest in the past and has also won at Cannes in the difficult film category. Nirvana won a Silver Lion at Cannes, for Neo Sports 'Gas' TVC in 2008; it also won at the London International Awards for the same film. As a director with Nirvana, Varma has worked on ad films for Vodafone, Tata Indicom, Virgin Mobile, Titan, DTC Nakshatra, among others.

On April 10, the Goafest Creative Abby Awards will be presented in five verticals -- print, film, radio, out of home and integrated advertising. There will be 14 categories, along with additional categories such as ambient media, design, interactive digital advertising, direct category, film craft, print craft and radio craft. Also, four Grand Prix awards will be given for print, radio, film and integrated advertising.

Currently in its fifth year, the Goafest is the largest advertising meet and awards ceremony for the Indian advertising fraternity. This time, the meet is scheduled for April 8-10 at Utorda Beach, Goa.

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