Abby Awards 2025 names five more jury chairs for key categories

The Ad Club announces the appointment of Nina Elavia Jaipuria, business professional and corporate leader; Niraj Ruparel, creative tech lead at WPP and GroupM, India; Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India; Chandani Samdaria, executive creative director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi; and Praful Akali, founder and managing director, Medulla Communications as jury chairs respectively for Broadcaster, Technology, Public Relations, Green Abby and Health categories. 

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, business professional and corporate leader has been appointed Jury Chair in the Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Broadcaster category. Nina has over 3 decades of experience in media, FMCG, services, marketing and advertising. After completing her MBA from Sydenham Institute of Management, Nina started her journey in advertising with the launch of Surf Excel at Lintas. She moved on to Colgate to look after their Cibaca toothbrush portfolio followed by her shift to BPL Cellular to work on its customer acquisition strategy. She started her stint in the media industry with Sony Entertainment Television. In her last role, Nina was with Viacom 18 Media as their senior executive vice president and head - hindi and Kids’ TV Network. 

Nina has participated in the “FICCI Women on Corporate Boards” program and has been named to Impact’s “50 Most Influential Women in Indian Media, Marketing and Advertising” nine times. She chairs the women empowerment committee at the International Advertising Association (IAA) and leads the IAA Voice of Change initiative, focusing on gender representation in content.

Niraj Ruparel, creative tech lead at WPP and GroupM, India has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Technology category.

Niraj leads creative technology at WPP and GroupM India, focusing on transformative projects such as voice AI for rural India, teleportation cafés, and AI-powered inclusion tools for underserved communities. His goal is to make technology accessible and inclusive for all, not just the digitally elite, but for the entire population of Bharat.

Niraj and his teams at WPP in India are globally awarded innovators, with multiple Cannes Lions, Cannes Titanium, Spikes Asia, Kyoorius and Effies and has served as a jury member at top forums. He is also a respected evangelist of creative technology, known for sparking cross-agency collaborations and building industry-first solutions that scale.

Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Public Relations category.

Deepshikha, with three decades of experience in public relations and integrated communications, has been appointed CEO of Burson Group India, which includes Burson Genesis, GCI Health India, and Hill & Knowlton India. She was previously the CEO of BCW India Group.

She is a founding board member of the India chapter of the Global Women in Public Relations (GWPR). She serves as the Managing Committee member and President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). Deepshikha also served as President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) in 2008. Passionate about bringing creative ideas and measurement into communications, she has been a juror for numerous prestigious award shows, including Cannes PR Lions, D&AD Awards, amongst others.

Chandani Samdaria, executive creative director, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Green Abby category.

With over 15 years of experience in the creative industry, Chandani Samdaria has worked on campaigns for global brands such as Vicks, Head & Shoulders, Nivea, Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Amazon Audible, and more with a focus on leveraging cultural insights to create powerful ideas.

She has served as a jury member for platforms including the One Show for the Branded Entertainment category, Portfolio Evening by D&AD and Indian Creative Women, and as Jury Chair for Abby Awards. Chandani is a mentor for the One Show Young Ones Program where she is currently mentoring young talent. 

Her work has earned multiple accolades, including a Gold at Abby Awards, a Silver at Clio, and a Silver at the Effies for Vicks. A National Gold Medalist in Figure and Artistic Skating, Chandani has multi-faceted talents.

Praful Akali, founder and managing director, Medulla Communications has been appointed Jury Chair at Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show in the Health Category.

Praful, a highly awarded healthcare creative, founded Medulla in 2008. Under his leadership, the agency was named Healthcare Advertising Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions in 2016. Praful's early career was spent on the client side after completing his management studies at IIM Lucknow. He managed Pfizer's Consumer Healthcare portfolio in India, an experience that allows him to blend creativity with effectiveness. 

Praful led two highly successful campaigns, "Last Laugh" and "Last Words." The "Last Words" campaign won a gold at Cannes Lions and an effectiveness award at the Effies in 2016, and "Last Laugh" achieved a Grand Prix at Clio and two Golds at the APAC Effies in 2017. Praful has also served on juries for award shows like Cannes Lions, LIA, and Clio.

The ABBY Awards 2025 powered by One Show is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2025 on May 21, 22 and 23, 2025 at Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage and Horizon, Goa.