The Epica Awards return to Berlin this year

After last year's guest appearance in Amsterdam, the Epica Awards are thus returning to the city where the judging and award ceremony were already held in 2015. This year's awards show will take place in Berlin on Thursday, November 16. Editorial Director Mark Tungate said at the Epica jury lunch in Cannes that they were "thrilled" to return to Berlin. "Berlin is one of the most exciting and creative cities in the world."

While two years ago the historic Kino International was the venue, this year's event will be one step more historic: The Meistersaal in Berlin-Kreuzberg was built in 1910 and is - thanks to the survival of the Second World War - one of the few remaining concert and event halls of Berlin in the 1920s.

The Creative Circle Conference will also be held at the same venue during the day on Thursday, and this year's speakers will include Richard Wilson, co-founder of Stop Funding Hate; Preethi Mariappan, VP Executive Creative Director of Emerging Experiences EMEA Sapient Razorfish; Sascha Martini, Managing Director of R/GA Berlin; and Patrick Lara, Managing Director of Publicis Conseil. The topic is "The Creative Singularity."

The 2017 jury president is Spencer Baim, Chief Strategic Officer of Vice Media. As always, Werbewoche will also sit on the jury. The jury is made up of representatives of trade magazines from around the world, including Adweek, W&V, Horizont and Fast Company.

Epica not only welcomes two new jury members this year, The Economic Times from India and Marketing Directo from Spain, but also introduces two new categories: "Music Video" and "Online and Mobile Services" - the latter covering advertising for digital brands such as Airbnb or Uber.

Entries can be submitted from July 31 to September 30, more information at Epica-awards.com. (hae)

Photo: PeterDargatz