Cannes Lions announces 2026 Awarding Jury line-up

The line-up sees participation from established creative agencies, independents, brands and geographies

The Dominican Republic and Venezuela join the line-up for the first time

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, taking place 22–26 June 2026, has announced its Awarding Jury line-up for this year’s Festival. This exceptional group of global experts will convene in Cannes this June to set the global benchmark for creative excellence.

This year’s Juries reflect the growing diversity of the voices shaping the global creative industry, with fresh perspectives from independent agencies and brands across an array of sectors. Amongst those making their Jury debut is French brand, AXA, following its success in 2025, winning 13 Lions. The line-up also welcomes increased representation from across Africa, Pacific, MENA and LATAM, including first-time Jurors from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

Commenting on this year’s line-up, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “The impact of the Cannes Lions Jury can’t be underestimated. Their time and expertise in recognising groundbreaking work sets the global creative benchmark for the year ahead and provides a view of the future shape of creativity. Each year, our Juries are carefully selected to uphold this standard, and this year is no exception. Welcoming new expert voices across a breadth of markets and disciplines, we are delighted to bring together some of the industry’s most well-respected leaders to define the creative standards driving our industry forward and celebrate the transformative power of creativity to create change, shape society, and build business.”

Marian Brannelly, Global Director of Awards, LIONS, added: “The composition of this year’s Juries speaks to how creativity is evolving – it’s becoming more interconnected, more diverse, and more influential across every part of business. With more markets than ever represented and a growing number of leaders from independent agencies and brands, this year’s line-up will ensure that the work is judged through a truly global and contemporary lens. This is critical to setting the benchmark for creative excellence today. We thank all our experts for the care and dedication they will bring to the judging process.”

The 2026 Awarding Jurors have been named as:

Audio & Radio Oriel Davis-Lyons | Chief Creative Officer, Mother New York, USA Beto Nahmad | Executive Creative Director, VCCP, Spain Claudia Hesse | CEO, Hesse Voices GmbH, Global Chesley Maddox | CEO, American Urban Radio Network, USA Edu Luke | Sound Creative, HEFTY Music & Sound, Brazil Fran Palines | Creative Director, VML Manila, the Philippines Gautam Wadher | Chief Creative Officer, Memac Ogilvy, UAE Jabulani Sigege | Group Executive Creative Director, Machine_, South Africa Simon Langley | Chief Creative Officer, Bastion, Australia Zuza Duchniewska Sobczak | Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Warsaw, Poland

Brand Experience & Activation

Rafael Pitanguy | Deputy Global Chief Creative Officer, VML, Global Amy Weston | Executive Creative Director, Clemenger BBDO, Australia Brisa Vicente | Co-CEO, Droga5 São Paulo, a part of Accenture Song, Brazil Britt Nolan | Chief Creative Officer, North America, McCann, North America Defri Dwipaputra | Chief Creative Experience Officer, Dentsu Creative, Indonesia Helen Rhodes | Chief Creative Officer, Grey London, UK Julie Hogan | VP of Global Brand Experiences, Meta, Global Ricardo Avilés | Chief Creative Officer, LePub, Mexico Satoshi Chikayama | Executive Creative Director, Hakuhodo, Japan Zizwe Vundla | Chief Marketing Officer, Safaricom | MPESA, Kenya

Creative B2B

Ty Heath | Global Director, Thought Leadership, GTM Strategy, LinkedIn, Global Adelise Ashdown | Global Head of Brand and Client Experience and Regional Marketing Lead, APAC, JLL, Global and APAC Andre Athayde | Agency Partner, Meta, Brazil Benedict Buckland | Managing Director, alan. agency, UK Jim Curtis | Chief Creative Officer, LePub NY, USA Kelly McConville | VP of Marketing, Fourthline, the Netherlands Megha Dutta | Executive Creative Director, The Partnership Africa | Publicis, Africa Park Wannasiri | Chief Creative Officer, VML, Thailand Sam Stuchbury | Executive Creative Director and Founder, Motion Sickness, Aotearoa New Zealand Simon Higby | Nordic Creative Director, NORD, The Nordics

Creative Business Transformation

Gugu Mthembu | Chief Marketing Officer, Telkom, South Africa Andres Arlia | Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Creative, USA Clare Pickens | CEO, Leo, Australia Diego Guerhardt | Executive Creative Director, Fbiz , Brazil Ikuko Ohta | Chief Strategy Officer, Droga5 Tokyo, part of Accenture Song, Japan Nadja Bellan-White | Group CEO, M+C Saatchi, North America Rakesh Menon | Chief Creative Experience Officer, Ulka, India Tarek Miknas | CEO, FP7McCann, MENAT Virginie Berçot | Global Brand Director, AXA, Global Virginie Briand | Partner, Deloitte, Germany

Creative Commerce

Phil Camarota | Chief Creative Officer, Flywheel, Global Giant Kung | Chief Creative Officer and Writer, Ogilvy, Taiwan Ian Loon | CEO, Media and Digital, Singapore and Chief Transformation Officer, Southeast Asia, Publicis Groupe, Singapore and Southeast Asia Kim Pick | Group Executive Creative Director, VML, Aotearoa New Zealand Mario Lagos | Chief Creative Officer, Name, Colombia Matt Gay | Executive Creative Director, adam&eve\TBWA, UK Oriane Canfrin | Head of Marketing and Communication, Ecobank, Ivory Coast Ruxandra Papuc | Global Executive Creative Director and Partner, AIN'T, Global Thanh Anh Nguyen | Head of Marketing and Commercial, Grab, Vietnam

Creative Data

Anupriya Acharya | CEO, Publicis Groupe, South Asia Félix del Valle | Chief Creative Officer, MRM, Spain Koert Bakker | Head of Insights & Innovation, PwC Netherlands, Global Mary Anne He | Head of Data & Insights, Havas Media, Middle East Pipo Morano | National Executive Creative Director, MARURI, Ecuador Susana Albuquerque | Executive Creative Director and Partner, Uzina, Portugal Tracey Cooke | Chief Marketing Officer, SVP, Nestlé, Canada Veli Ngubane | Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Avatar, AMEA Xavier Serrano | CEO, TBWA\Colombia, Colombia Yuliya Tushina | CEO, Creative Division, DASM, Kazakhstan

Creative Effectiveness

Bertille Toledano | CEO, BETC and Havas Creative Middle East; President, Havas Creative Network, Global Aakriti Goel | Head of Strategy, Leo, UAE Adam Gerhart | Global Chief Client Officer, WPP Media, Global Ayu Sasaki | Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan Brent Smart | Chief Marketing Officer, Telstra, Australia Danielle Jin | Chief Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific, Visa, APAC Glen Lomas | CEO Europe, Omnicom Advertising, Europe Jane Wakely | Executive VP, Chief Consumer & Marketing Officer and Chief Growth Officer - International Foods, PepsiCo, Global Mpume Ngobese | Managing Director, Joe Public, South Africa Vinicius B. Reis | Partner and CEO, Crispin, Brazil and President, Stagwell, Brazil and Latin America

Creative Strategy

Sarah Lemarié | Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis, France Alejandro Fischer | Chief Strategy Officer, Havas, Middle East Bethany Omeri | Head of Strategy, SPECIAL New Zealand, Aotearoa New Zealand Boris Nihom | CEO, Dentsu, Benelux Dan Hill | Global Chief Strategy Officer, Wieden+Kennedy, Global Dheeraj Sinha | CEO, McCann, India Ellie Bamford | Chief Strategy Officer, VML, North America Jen Costello | Global Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA\Worldwide, Global Neo Makhele | Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy, South Africa Renan Damascena | Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, MUVUKA and AUÊ, LATAM

Design

Greg Quinton | Chief Creative Officer, Design Bridge and Partners, Global Ben Miles | Chief Design Officer, R/GA, APAC Kyungsin Kim | CEO and Executive Creative Director, Paulus, South Korea Lulu Raghavan | President, Landor, APAC Özge Güven | Visual Communication Designer, Studio Özge Güven, Turkey Patrick Bennett | Chief Creative Officer, Global Simone Rossum | Executive Creative Director, SHIFT, South Africa Vitor Hugo Favero | Global Design Lead, McCann, Global Yasmin Sindi | Senior Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, Saudi Arabia Yoshihiro Kono | Senior Art Director, TBWA\HAKUHODO, Japan

Digital Craft

Andrés Ordóñez | Global Chief Creative Officer, McCann, Global Gurbaksh Singh | Chief Creative Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, Dentsu Creative, India Hannah Johnson | Head of Creative Strategy DACH, Snap Inc., DACH KK Walker | Executive Creative Director, Google, Global Martin Rabaglia | CEO, Genosha, Global Stephanie Mazingi | Creative Managing Director, Havas, South Africa Tiago Abreu | Chief Creative Officer, GUT São Paulo, Brazil Tim Devine | Global Chief Invention Officer, AKQA, Global Vicky Lee | Executive Creative Director, Medialand Digital Strategy, Taiwan Youssef Gadallah | Head of Creative Studio, TikTok - Bytedance, METAP

Direct

Joaquín Cubría | Chief Creative Officer, GUT, Argentina Hadi Alaeddin | Senior Creative Director, EMEA, .Pomelo, EMEA Juan Manuel Gaitán | Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy, Dominican Republic Khethiwe Makhubo | Creative Group Head, McCann Joburg, South Africa Lili Jiang | Executive Creative Director, Cheil Worldwide, Hong Kong SAR Lorena Berges | Creative Director, DDB Latina Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Mark Elwood | Chief Creative Officer, Leo, UK Sophie Kelly | SVP, Global Tequila and Mezcal Categories, Diageo, Global Tanja Grubner | Global Marketing Director, Essity, Global

Entertainment

Chris Beresford-Hill | Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide, Global Damisa Ongsiriwattana | Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, SOUR Bangkok, Thailand Farah El Feghali | Executive Creative Director, McCann Paris, France Firas Ghannam | Executive Creative Director, VML Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Jason Williams | Head of Creative Excellence, APAC, Publicis Groupe, APAC Jung A Kim | CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Innocean, South Korea Ned McNeilage | Head of Creative, Sphere, USA Prachi Narayan | Managing Partner, Havas Play, India Rafael Donato | Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy, Brazil Sophia Lindholm | Head of Creative, Forsman & Bodenfors, Sweden

Entertainment Lions for Gaming

Lolly Thomson | Joint Global Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi Group, Global Amitesh Rao | CEO, Leo, South Asia Asako Okuno | Global Creative Director, Hakuhodo, Global Danni Pinch | Executive Creative Director, Accenture Song, South Africa Gabriel Caramelo Eccher | Marketing VP, Clash Royale, Supercell, Finland Josh Gross | Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Chicago, USA Rogério Chaves | Co-Chief Creative Officer, Africa Creative, Brazil Teddy Kossoko | Founder, GARA and Masseka Game Studio, France

Entertainment Lions for Music

Matt Murphy | Global Chief Creative Officer, 72andSunny, Global Corinna Martínez | Partner and Head of Production, Mastodonte Films, Mexico Fizo Younis | Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe, Middle East Phiona Okumu | Head of Music, Sub-Saharan Africa, Spotify, Sub-Saharan Africa Prerna Suri | VP, Communications, Sony Music Entertainment, Asia and Middle East Rick Sakurai | Creative Director and Managing Director, MassiveMusic Tokyo, APAC Ryan McManus | Chief Creative Officer, VML, UK Sergio Franco Tosso | Chief Creative Officer, Fahrenheit DDB, Peru Subhajit Mukherjee | Music Composer, India Toni Wallace | Partner and Head of Global Music Brand Strategy and Partnerships, United Talent Agency, Global

Entertainment Lions for Sport

Shannon Washington | Chief Creative Officer and Managing Partner, 11 Ounces, Global A.P. Chaney | Senior Director - Creative, Sparkling Flavors (NAOU), The Coca-Cola Company, North America Andre Toledo | Chief Creative Officer, DAVID New York, USA Binda Dey | Global Chief Marketing Officer, Knight Riders Sports, India Bukky Moemeke | Independent Consultant, Sport and Entertainment Marketing, Global Guy Futcher | Regional Executive Creative Director, Octagon, APAC Jhon Da Silva | CEO and Creative Director, La Web Figital Agency, Venezuela Lucy Basden-Smith | Managing Director, Fuse International, Global Melody Li | SVP, Business Development, Dentsu Sports International, APAC Mohammed Sehly | CEO, BigTime Creative Shop, Saudi Arabia

Film

Pelle Sjoenell | Former Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Droga5, part of Accenture Song, Global Alexis Ospina | Chief Creative Officer, Grey, Mexico Alice Chou | Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative, Taiwan Ash Chagla | Chief Creative Officer, Science & Sunshine, UAE Ben Sun Erhei | CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Havas Creative China, Mainland China Femi Odugbemi | Founder and CEO, Zuri24 Media Limited, Nigeria Janne Lysø | Executive Creative Director, POL, Norway Maiya Kinoshita | Creative Director, TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo, Japan Marcelo Vergara | Executive Creative Director, Publicis Conseil, France Micah Walker | Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, Australia

Film Craft

Pip Smart | Executive Producer and Partner, Revolver, Australia Asma Humayun | Global Creative Director and Senior Producer, Shiny Toy Guns, Pakistan and Global Atta Hemwadee | Director, Attah Film, Thailand Eddy Rizk | CEO, BIG KAHUNA FILMS, UAE James Brook-Partridge | Head of Production, WPP Production, UK John Bleeden | SVP, Global Executive Creative Development, McCann, Global Maureen Hufnagel | Film Director, Landia, Argentina Mbithi Masya | Director, Fat Rain Africa, Kenya Melissa Tifrere | Chief Production Officer, Havas, USA Tato Bono | President, Publicis Production, Brazil

Glass: The Lion for Change

Monique Nelson | Executive Chair, UWG, USA andre (g.) gray | Chief Brand Officer, Overtime, USA Anna Johannes | Co-Founder, Culxtured, USA Breana Auberry | Global Brand Director, Culture Marketing and Collaborations, The LEGO Group, Global Rana Sadek | Senior Creative Director, IMPACT BBDO Dubai, UAE Sonita Alizadeh | Rapper, Global Suhana Gordhan | Chief Creative Officer and Founder, LoveSong, South Africa Zoe Hamilton | Global Chief Strategy Officer for Unilever, Ogilvy, Global Viviane Duarte | CEO, Plano Feminino, Brazil

Health & Wellness

Kainaz Karmakar | Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy, India Allison Ceraso | Chief Creative Officer, Digitas Health, USA Amanda Fuller | Managing Partner, Omnicom Health, Oceania Donevan Chew | Chief Creative Officer, Havas, Malaysia Joseph Bonnici | Chief Creative Officer and Owner, Tadiem, Canada Marília Zanoli | Chief Marketing Officer, Kimberly-Clark, Brazil Muhannad Kadi | Chief Marketing Officer, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Saudi Arabia Norkor Duah | CEO, MullenLowe Accra, Ghana Raimundo Undurraga | Chief Creative Officer, VML, Chile Séverine Autret | Global Creative Excellence Lead, Opella, Global

Industry Craft

Rafael Gil | Chief Creative Officer, Artplan, Brazil Alistair Thompson | Executive Creative Director, Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann / DMB., Austria Damon Stapleton | Chief Creative Officer, Droga5 ANZ, Part of Accenture Song, AUNZ Derek Green | Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\RAAD, MENA Hiroyuki Kato | Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan and Global Krystle Mullin | Chief Creative Officer, john st. and T&P, Canada Lauren Kimball | Executive VP, Experience Design Director, Edelman, Global Liana Liebenberg | Creative Partner, Design Bridge and Partners, South Africa Maud Robaglia | Head of Art, Publicis Conseil, France Michael Wilk | Global Head of Art, Serviceplan Group, Global

Innovation

Kazuhiro Shimura | Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Inc., Japan Anna Nicanorova | Chief Technology Officer, Annalect, Global Craig Elimeliah | Chief Creative Officer, Code and Theory, Global Daniel Payan | Chief Creative Officer, VML, Colombia Emma Lax | Global Head of Intelligence and Innovation, Havas Creative Network, Global Hadleigh Sinclair | Group Creative Director, Colenso BBDO, Aotearoa New Zealand Juliet Ehimuan | Founder and CEO, Beyond Limits Global, Nigeria Kika Douglas Castroviejo | Chief Creative Officer, LePub, the Netherlands Pablo Vitale | SVP Executive Creative Director, Monks Buenos Aires, Argentina Sabaa Quao | Founding President, PlusCo Venture Studio, Canada

Media

Sindhuja Rai | Chief Client Officer, WPP Media, APMEA Anisha Iyer | CEO, OMD, India Azhar Siddiqui | CEO, Mediaplus Middle East, MENA Dashni Vilakazi | Managing Director, The MediaShop, South Africa Fabrice Plazolles | Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer, Havas Play, France Kendra Hatcher King | Global Chief Design Officer, Spark Foundry, Global Marta García Alonso | VP Marketing, HEINEKEN, México Paulo Ilha | Co-Founder and Chief Media Officer, Galeria Holding, Brazil Will Swayne | Global Practice President – Media and Integrated Solutions, dentsu, Global

Outdoor

Aaron Starkman | Global Chief Creative Officer, Rethink, Global Habiba Allam | Creative Director, Careem, Global Jake Barrow | Chief Creative Officer, VML, Czech Republic Leisa Wall | Chief Creative Officer, McCann New Zealand, Aotearoa New Zealand Marie Julie Gerbauld | Chief Creative Officer, DAVID São Paulo, Brazil Peter Dobbyn | Creative Director, Publicis Dublin, Ireland Pooja Manek | Creative and Founding Member, Talented Agency, India Sergio Chinchilla | General Creative Director, Garnier, Costa Rica Stéphane Gaubert | Chief Creative Officer, Havas Paris, France Tim Wasicki | Group Creative Director, OUTFRONT Media, USA

Pharma

Tracey Brader | Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Remedy Edge, UK Aleisia Gibson Wright | Founder and President, GW Health Public Relations, USA Alex Okada | Chief Creative Officer, Havas Lynx, UK Andrea Lillis | SVP, Executive Creative Director, Klick Health, North America Chris Charles | Executive Creative Director, 21GRAMS, USA Mandi Fine | CEO and Founder, FINE, South Africa Paola Aldaz | Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Marketing, Keralty Group and Colsanitas, Colombia Ryan Wallman | Executive Creative Director, Wellmark, Australia Sharon Tan | Head of Client and Growth, Publicis Health, APAC Wei Fei | Group Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy Shanghai, Mainland China

PR

Dana Tahir | CEO, HAVAS Red, Middle East and Egypt Elaine Rodrigues | Managing Director, Golin, Brazil Hillary Andoh | Founder and CEO, HSA PR, Africa Jean Paoli | Executive Creative Director, Weber Shandwick, Europe Joe Mackay-Sinclair | Founder and CEO, The Romans, Global Lauren Thomson | VP of Creative Strategy and Integrated Communications, MSL, Canada Mina Sakai | Chief Consultant, Dentsu PR Consulting Inc., Japan Simone Gupta | Co-Founder, Supermassive, Australia Taj Reid | Global Chief Creative Officer, Burson, Global Tim Green | Chief Creative Officer, Edelman, APAC

Print & Publishing

Jessica Apellaniz | Chief Creative Officer, Wieden+Kennedy, Mexico Alexis Bronstorph | Chief Creative Officer, No Fixed Address, Canada Dhruv Warrior | Executive Creative Director, VML, India Fernando Pellizzaro | Global Executive Creative Director, AKQA, Global Iron Brito | Creative Director, AlmapBBDO, Brazil Jason Murison | Creative Lead, DAMAC Properties, Global Lorenz Langgartner | Global Executive Creative Director, Serviceplan Group, Global Mo Chen | Executive Creative Director, TBWA\China, Mainland China Nkgabiseng Motau | Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Think Creative Africa, Africa Riccardo Fregoso | Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative, Southern Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (SEMENAT)

Social & Creator

Mihnea Gheorghiu | Global Chief Creative Officer, LePub, Global Asia Ali | Founder and Managing Director, MKV Digital, UAE Anny Havercroft | Global Head of Product MarComs and Industry Education, TikTok, Global Ary Nogueira | Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo, Brazil Guillermo Vega | Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy North America and Global Creative Network Lead, The Coca-Cola Company Katariina Ollari | Head of Social and Content, NoA | Bob the Robot, Finland Khangelani Dziba | Brand Communications Consultant, Independent, South Africa Munya Chawawa | Comedian, Actor and Founder of Munz Made It, UK Pedro Perez | Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, USA Victor Nguy?n-Long | Group Social Creative Director, Google, Global

Sustainable Development Goals

Kazoo Sato | Chief Creative Officer and CEO, Earth Centric Design, Japan Bogosi Motshegwa | Founder, CEO, and Chief Strategy Officer, Thinkerneur, Africa Flavia Martins | Founder and CEO, Diversidade Sustentavel, Brazil Laura Rogers | Executive Creative Director, AMV BBDO, UK Marcela Melero | Chief Growth Marketing Officer, Dove, Unilever, Global Mary Catherine Fixel | Managing Director, Head of Sustainability, Accenture Song, Global Nicolai Smith | Chief Creative Officer, AKQA, EMEA Rob Galluzzo | CEO and Executive Producer, FINCH, AUNZ Sergiy Biloshytskiy | Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, Ukraine Sherri Aldis | Director, United Nations Communications, United Nations, Western Europe

The line-up for the Creative Brand, Dan Wieden Titanium and Luxury Juries will be announced in due course. The 73rd edition of the Festival takes place from 22 to 26 June in Cannes, France. Pass options can be found at www.canneslions.com.