Seven South Africans have been chosen to judge this year’s awards across the various categories, a feather in the cap for South Africa’s creative industry.

Cinemark, the local representative of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is extremely proud of the South Africans that will play a role in choosing the winners of this year’s competition. The jury is made up of a dynamic and talented group who will head to Cannes in June. Alistair King from King James Group will judge in the film category, Paul Warner from MetropolitanRepublic will judge in the press category, Fran Luckin from Ogilvy Johannesburg will judge in the outdoor category, Justin Gomes from FoxP2 will judge in the direct category, John Davenport from Ireland Davenport will judge in the promo and activation category, Mike Schalit from Net#work BBDO will judge in the radio category and Joanne Thomas from The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town will judge in the design category.

At the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in brand communication, over 11 000 delegates from 95 countries will travel to Cannes for this year’s 60th festival. Judges will have some difficult decisions to make as they decide who is the best in the world in each category.

Founding partner and chief creative officer at King James Group, Alistair King, has sat at the forefront of the creative industry for quite some time. He became a creative director of a multinational at the age of 25 and was awarded the Tommy Young Award in 1995, given to the most promising person under the age of 30 in the South African advertising industry. Since then, he has frequently been ranked as one of the top creatives in the country by his peers on the Creative Circle and was named Financial Mail AdFocus Agency Leader of the Year in 2008. In a poll conducted by MarkLives in Jan 2013, he was voted the most admired creative director in South Africa.

King has always strived to be more than an ad maker. His reputation as a broadly skilled creative has led him to sit on a wide variety of juries, including design, photography, short film and short stories. He previously judged Cannes Film in 2005.

Founder and chief creative officer of the MetropolitanRepbulic Group, Paul Warner is a pioneer when it comes to the African communication industry and continues to set the creative pace in new media categories. Part of the Cannes Lions film jury in 2008 and winner of three Gold Cannes Lions, he launched MetropolitanRepublic in 2007 and subsequently rolled out five new agencies throughout the continent. Warner aspires to MetropolitanRepublic becoming the first truly African born creative network.

Executive creative director for Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, Fran Luckin has been in the industry for 19 years and has judged a host of international and local creative awards shows including the film category at Cannes, the Clio Awards and the Art Director’s Club of New York. Luckin was named one of the top ten most influential people in South African advertising in 2009 and is a winner of several Gold Loeries and two Gold Cannes Lions.

Justin Gomes, creative director and founding partner of FoxP2, first harnessed his powers of creativity with a pair of red underpants, blue pyjamas and a red towel when his parents denied him a Superman suit. Since then, Gomes has worked at top agencies in Paris, New York and South Africa, winning a Gold Lion at Cannes, South Africa's Campaign of the Decade and a few Loerie Grand Prix Awards along the way. Gomes' independent agency, FoxP2, has also won a number of business awards including Financial Mail's Agency Of The Year. Gomes served on the Cannes print jury in 2010.

John Davenport, executive creative director for Ireland Davenport, realised at a young age that he was not an academic and instead went on to excel in the creative industry, winning several Gold Lions, One Show Pencils and Loerie Grand Prix. He also judged at Cannes in 2005 in the inaugural radio category. He started Ireland Davenport with creative team mate Phil Ireland five years ago and has worked with clients like BMW, Investec, MTN, Avis and SA Tourism.

Founding partner and chief creative officer at Net#work BBDO, Mike Schalit is the perfect judge for the radio category at Cannes 2013, after beginning his career by failing as a rock musician. He founded Net#work in 1994 and as creative director for 11 years, has been recognised as Most Influential Person in Advertising, Most Awarded SA creative, Advertising Person of the Year and Achiever of the Decade. The Loerie Awards also dedicated a special Creative Achievement Loerie to him. Over the last three decades in the business, Schalit has featured on just about every awards jury panel both locally and globally, from Loeries to Cannes, including being selected as South Africa’s first chairperson at Clios and D&AD. His hope for creativity is to make a real difference, enhancing lives and uplifting South Africa.

Joanne Thomas, creative director of Design at The Jupiter Drawing Room in Cape Town, has judged at several international awards shows and has taken part in Cannes, where she walked away with a Gold Lion. Starting her career as an advertising art director, her passion has been firstly for communication as a whole and secondly, that the idea is everything. Thomas has applied those principles resulting in her department becoming one of the most awarded design studios in South Africa.

Taking place from Sunday, 16 to Saturday, 22 June, the 60th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity promises to be an exhilarating one for South Africa.