Amit Sharma, Prateek Bhardwaj, and Madan Bahal appointed as jury chairs for Abby Awards 2024, powered by One Show

Madan Bahal, Prateek Bhardwaj, and Amit Sharma will chair the jury for public relations, direct, and video craft categories respectively.

Madan Bahal, co-founder and MD of Adfactors PR, Prateek Bhardwaj, chief creative officer and head of creative (India) at Lowe Lintas and Amit Sharma, founder director of Chrome Pictures join as jury chairs for Public Relations category, Direct category and Video Craft category respectively, at The Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show.

Madan Bahal, co-founder and managing director of Adfactors PR, has been appointed jury chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Public Relations category.

Adfactors is India's public relations firm. Founded in 1997, Adfactors PR is also the youngest and the only independent firm in its peer group in India.

Over the last 25 years, Madan has had the privilege to serve as a lead communication counsel in many of the milestone events of corporate india, including fundraises, M&As, disputes, litigations, issues, and crises.

The firm currently serves over 500 retained clients, including many of India’s leading conglomerates, corporations, unicorns, financial institutions, and NGOs.

In 2022, the Arthur W. Page Society inducted Bahal into its Hall of Fame. Some of the recognitions that he has received so far include: International Communications Consultancy Organisation’s (ICCO) Hall Of Fame (November 2017), PRovoke’s Individual outstanding achievement in Asia-Pac (September 2013), Communicator of the Decade by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), and the Life Time Achievement Award by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI).

In October 2020, PRovoke recognised his firm as one of the seven global agencies of the decade.

A vocal advocate of continuous learning and development for PR practitioners, Madan is regarded for providing leadership in the Indian PR industry during major adverse events such as the global financial meltdown during 2008 and the two years of the covid-19 pandemic.

Prateek Bhardwaj, chief creative officer and head of creative (India) at Lowe Lintas has been appointed jury chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Direct Category.

With over 20 years in the business, Prateek has earned a slew of awards including the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions and Jay Chiat Awards, and the coveted Black Pencil at D&AD.

Prateek is ranked India’s No.1 most awarded creative for 2018, according to various sources, including CampaignBrief Asia. Prateek was the creative director behind the much acclaimed recent work on Nescafé (stammering comedian and RJ Rishi), Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan (Immunity Charm), and Incredible India.

His other work includes long-running campaigns for Dettol and PayTM and the still-famous launches of Sprite (Bujhaye only pyaas), Kinley, and Chlor-mint.

Prateek has also been a creative entrepreneur and founded Eleven Brandworks in 2008.

Amit Sharma, founder director of Chrome Pictures, has been appointed jury chair in Abby Awards 2024 powered by One Show in the Video Craft category.

Amit is a director of ad films and now feature films. Some of his TVCs are Pooja Didi - Facebook, Dove #StopTheBeautyTest, Lifebuoy - Help A Child Reach Five, Silent National Anthem, Google Reunion and many more.

Amit has bagged several awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes Asia, Adfest, London International Awards, Abby among others.

Amit's style of filmmaking has always revolved around topics that question the society at large and challenges its norms. For instance, his National award winning feature film, Badhaai Ho (directed and produced under his banner Chrome Pictures), addresses the issues that a middle aged couple, with two grown sons, face when they get pregnant at the age of 51.

His latest film “Maidaan”, a biopic starring Ajay Devgn on the Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim has done well at the box office.

With a focus on choosing subjects which are path breaking and unconventional, Amit believes in telling stories which are relatable, relevant and thought provoking.

The Abby Awards will be held on the 29, 30, and 31 May during Goafest 2024.

For more details on The Abby Awards, visit https://abbyawards.com/