Jerry Mpufane, chairperson of the M&C Saatchi Abel Johannesburg group and jury president of the awards, says, "I’m excited to be joining this Bookmarks jury – a group of professionals who bring a diverse point of view to judging the best in digital."

"Our job is to define what is considered to be the brave and innovative in digital, setting apart what the industry will agree is the benchmark. We are experiencing a great response in the number of entries submitted, and cannot wait to get stuck in," he adds.

The IAB has divided the judging of work into seven jury panels: marketers, builders, publishers, innovation engineers, gamers, performance marketing and special honours.

The innovation engineers jury is led by Jade Amic, creative director at VML; Gamers is led by Candice Goodman, CEO of Mobitainment; Marketers is led by Tseliso Rangaka, executive creative director at Ogilvy; Publishers is led by Izak Minnaar from SABC; Builders is led by Luke Jedeikin, co-CEO of Superbalist; Performance Marketing is led by Clare Trafankowska, head of digital at Carat Possibilities; and Special Honours will be chaired by Charlene Beukes, GM of 24.com.

Paula Hulley, CEO of the IAB South Africa, says, "We have a curated, strong, highly skilled, diverse panel of judges that represent the evolution of the digital industry, and South African audiences. We feel privileged to hear their unique insights on this year’s work." 

According to the IAB, the entry criteria and measurement process for the Bookmark Awards have also been simplified, empowering all those who are entering to demonstrate what they have achieved in order to best set them up for success.

Ernst van der Merwe, creative director at Creative Spark and IAB South Africa Bookmarks committee lead, adds, "The Bookmark Awards celebrate the body’s key strategic pillar to build brands digitally and the award’s core values of creativity, innovation and excellence." 

"The awards consistently strive to offer a host of practical examples of how marketers, agencies and publishers have executed digital campaigns to deliver sustainable impact on their business. Bookmarks 2019 is about allowing brands to be brave and giving them the platform and tools to illustrate the business impact of their campaigns," adds van der Merwe.

The full list of judges can be found here.

For more information, visit www.iabsa.net. You can also follow the IAB South Africa on Facebook or on Twitter.