Three Indians on the Dubai Lynx Awards 2011 jury

Mindshare's Gowthaman Ragothaman and Umbrella Design's Bhupal Ramnathkar will judge the Media and Design categories, respectively. McCann Erickson's Prasoon Joshi is the jury president of the Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Print & Outdoor Craft, and Integrated categories.

Prasoon Joshi, regional chairman and regional executive creative director, APAC, McCann Erickson, Gowthaman Ragothaman, managing director, Mindshare, and Bhupal Ramnathkar, founder and chairman, Umbrella Design, will be part of the jury at this year's edition of the Dubai Lynx Awards.

The Dubai International Advertising Festival is the leading advertising festival in the Middle-East and North-African (MENA) region. The prestigious Dubai Lynx Awards are instituted to honour innovative and creative advertising coming from this region.

Joshi will chair the juries for Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Print & Outdoor Craft, and Integrated categories at the show.

The veteran from the Indian advertising industry has more than 400 awards to his credit. He has also been part of the judging process at various awards shows, including the One Show, D&AD, Clio and the Cannes Lions.

Besides Joshi, the seven-member jury judging the Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio and Print & Outdoor Craft categories comprises Richard Brim, creative director, Leo Burnett United Kingdom, Valerie Chidlovsky, senior copywriter, BETC Euro RSCG France, Bridget Johnson, creative director, Ogilvy South Africa, Simon Langley, creative director, 303 Sydney, Scott Lewis, executive creative director, JWT USA, and Eric Schoeffler, chief creative officer, DDB Tribal Germany.

The Integrated jury consists of Armin Jochum, chief creative officer, Jung von Matt, Germany, Mike Cooper, worldwide chief executive officer, PHD, Rodney Fitch, founder, Fitch and Rodney Fitch Ltd, 303 Sydney's Langley, Ogilvy South Africa's Johnson and JWT USA's Lewis.

Mindshare's Ragothaman is on the jury that will judge the entries in the Media category. The jury will be chaired by PHD's Cooper.

Ragothaman says this is the first time he has been invited to judge a show outside the GroupM network and is looking forward to the experience.

"I am very eager to see and note the cultural differences between India and the Middle-East market. I am also looking forward to exchanging ideas with the other members of the jury and learning," says Ragothaman.

The other members of the Media jury are: Kristian Barnes, chief executive officer, MPG Australia, Davy Caluwaerts, creative communications director, Zenith Optimedia Belgium, Jochen Lenhard, managing director, Mediaplus, Germany, Amanda Koutra, managing director, Carat, Sweden, and Eric Bader, chief strategy officer, Initiative, USA.

This year, the Design category has been introduced at the show. Ramnathkar has been invited to be on the jury for this category.

Rodney Fitch is the jury president for Design, while other members of the jury are: Francis Gosset, founder and chief designer, Matherbe Design, France, Claudia Neri, design director and president, Teikna Design, Italy, Henrique Cayatte, founder and creative director, Henrique Cayatte Design, Portugal, Richard Hart, design director, Disturbance Design, South Africa, and Barbro Ohlson Smith, creative director, Ohlsonsmith, Sweden.

Ramnathkar says that he is particularly looking forward to be on the same jury as Fitch, whose work he has admired over the years.

According to him, design has become increasingly important in the realm of advertising and the fact is now being acknowledged widely. Ramnathkar thinks it would be particularly interesting to see the work in the Middle-East, where retail is widespread. "Design is a critical part of retail communication," he explains.

In its fourth year, the Dubai Lynx Festival will take place from March 27-29. The awards will be given away on March 30.

For the record, the Dubai Lynx Festival is presented by the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and Motivate Publishing. It is organised with the support of Dubai Media City (DMC), in association with the UAE chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA).