Pepper Creative Awards 2013 invites entries

The competition will, for the first time, use a fully automated online platform to accept entries in TVC, Radio and Digital categories.

The seventh edition of Pepper Creative Awards has invited advertising agencies in South India to send in their entries. Organised by Advertising Club Cochin and Pepper Creative Awards, the last date for accepting the entries is March 15. The winners of the gold, silver and bronze Pepper Creative Awards 2013 will be announced at a ceremony to be held at Le Meridien, Kochi on April 12.

Interestingly, for the first time this year, the awards will accept entries under some categories such as TVC, Radio and Digital, in a fully automated online platform. However, entries under Press Campaign, DM, Outdoor, Collateral and others will be accepted in physical formats as of now. New York-based Global Best Awards (GBA) will provide the online technical support and Federal Bank will facilitate the payment mode.

"If this is a success, we will use only the online platform for accepting entries from next year onwards, which will take Pepper Creative Awards to a great high," says P K Natesh, chairman, Pepper Awards 2013. According to Sandeep Nayar, president, Advertising Club Cochin, more than 2,000 entries are expected.

Some of the other categories in the competition are Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year, Art Director of the Year, Copywriter of the Year, Special Jury Award, Campaign of the Year, Corporate AV, Viral Campaign, Film Craft, Radio Craft, POP, Photography, Packaging, Logo Design, Unpublished Works, PR and Promos. The awards will also have an exclusive section for Kerala participants under categories such as Jewellery, Real Estate, Textile, Hospitality, Ayurveda and Others.

The jury panel for this year's award competition comprises Prathap Suthan, managing partner/chief creative officer, Bang in the Middle; Priti Nair, director and founder, Curry-Nation; Raj Nair, chief creative officer, BMB India; and Rajiv Rao, national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather India.

"All the four jury members have proven credentials in heading juries of similar nature at national and international levels," says Oommen Kurian, chairman, Pepper Creative Awards Trust. All of them have bagged awards at Cannes, New York Festival, London International, Adfest Asia Pacific, Clio, One Show, Media Spikes and Euro Effie for their creations. According to the organisers, Pepper Creative Awards is the second largest creative award in India.