Kim Abbott Joins the 2018 BIMA Awards Shadow Jury

Wednesday 11th July was BIMA Awards 2018 judging day, when leaders from the digital industry descended on Atos HQ to turn a daunting mountain of impressive entries into one exceptional shortlist.

Kim Abbott, a Senior Experience Designer from AnalogFolk's London office, was invited to join the shadow jury this year as an up-and-coming creative talent.

The BIMA shadow jury is the first of its kind in the UK, launched in association with Creative Equals, and allows the ‘jurors of the future’ to gain valuable insights into how work is judged, experience a jury room in action and see how their scores for the work compare.

Kim explains: “Being on the shadow jury was a truly great experience because you get a real understanding of how awards and creative recognition work. I think there's an underlying notion that award judges are somehow omniscient or have some superhuman knowledge that we don't, but they're people, and that humanity and the conversations between jurors around the work is what really makes the experience.”

Throughout the day the ‘jurors of the future’ were able to gain valuable insights into how work is judged, experience a jury room in action and see how their scores for the work compare.

Holly Hall, MD of BIMA said: ‘The BIMA Awards are all about celebrating the best of the digital industry, but we believe they can do more than celebrate today’s talent; they should inspire the next generation too. That’s why, in collaboration with Creative Equals, we are once again inviting our shadow jury to take part in judging day, and showing our commitment to diversity in digital.”

AnalogFolk is committed to being a champion for the industry in Diversity and Inclusion, including tackling the shocking industry statistic that only 12% of Creative Directors are women. They have committed that by 2019, 50% of all senior leadership roles will be performed by women, with at least 10% as a result of internal promotion.

Earlier this year Morag Bruce, the agency's Editor-in-Chief, was chosen as one of Campaign’s Future Female Leaders, the next generation of women redefining creativity.