Inside the Jury Room: Sharing the Immortality of Canadian Talent with Toronto’s Creative Community
The Canadian leg of this year’s Immortal Awards judging was done slightly differently. Eager to bring together the wider creative community and show which work had been deemed potentially ‘Immortal’ by their peers, LBB founder and CEO Matt Cooper dreamt up a newfangled way of celebrating in Toronto.
With The Immortal Awards Canada jury day focused on the most exciting work the market had to offer over the past year, with the best projects being crowned Finalists and qualifying from the North American regional round of judging in New York City (Friday November 8th), the idea to conclude the judging with a market-wide celebration was well received by all.
Hosted at Zulu Alpha Kilo’s Toronto office, the day began with an initial screening and round of quietly considered judging, followed by an animated, group-led second round of discussion. Disrupting the traditional industry awards model, The Immortal Awards provides LBB members with a competition that is free and easy to enter, yet offers limited spots and, most importantly, is hard to win – and the Canadian reel was packed with goodies.
Recruited for Canadian jury duty this year was Anthony Chelvanathan, chief creative officer at Edelman Canada; Damon Crate, creative director at The Kitchen; Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, chief creative officer at FCB Toronto; Taj Critchlow, founder of Fela; Jordan Doucette, president and chief creative officer of Dentsu Creative Canada; Amanda ‘AJ’ Jones, chief strategy officer at McCann Canada; Pallavi Joshi-Firby, executive producer at Fort York; Brian Murray, chief creative officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo; and Caroline Frisen, partner and group creative director at Rethink.
Before pressing play on the shortlist of 28 finalists, Matt advised the jurors to “try to be nice about the work, but don’t be too Canadian about it…” He needn’t have worried because everyone had rocked up with an open and objective mindset, quickly proceeding to roll up their sleeves and take on the responsibility of deciphering which submissions should be awarded the title of contender.
Without a doubt, the buzzword of the day was ‘impact’. Passionate about getting to the crux of the work and really dissecting the true meaning of ‘immortal’, each of the jurors, at some point or another, weighed in on idea versus impact.
The first to do this was Taj Critchlow, who expressed a belief that the success of a piece of work is best measured by its cultural impact. This led to many other discussions later in the session that looked at the resulting societal impact, brand impact, and, of course, impact across Canada.
The overall enjoyment of creative ideas that were not only measurably impactful, but also evoked a reaction from the jurors themselves was another common theme across the work. Even the projects that weren’t officially deemed to “feel immortal” still made each juror sit up, pay attention and “give a shit”, eliciting impassioned debate from the group with many changing their minds from the first round.
From conversations about the practice of green, pink and even rainbow washing to cover up undesirable facts or actions, to debating the well-known Canadian advertising trait of finding a “hack” to gain attention, meet regulations, and push boundaries – the diversity of the group’s personal and professional backgrounds fostered a sense of shared learning, a valuable trait of Toronto’s tight creative community.
After a few hours of honest and frank discussion, the jurors were done, whittling down the shortlist of 28 to a cool seven finalists. Matt Cooper noted how this was some of the fastest judging he’d seen in the competition’s history. Perhaps it was because the work was so good, perhaps it was because things felt conclusive, but one way or another, it was refreshing to observe honest and frank feedback from a group of seasoned specialists.
Spurred on by an immense year at Cannes, as well as a great showing in last year's edition of this competition, the jury decided to submit seven pieces, up from six last year. These carefully selected seven pieces will now go on to battle it out with the best USA has to offer, competing for a place in the final, global round of judging and a chance at winning an Immortal Award or Commendation. Around 6pm the post-judging event kicked off, with 80 industry members from across agency, brand, prod co and post turning up to support the Immortals in Canada and find out more about the creative which made it through.
The after-party provided an opportunity to unite the Canadian creative community - spanning agencies, brands, production, and post-production professionals - encouraging collaboration, and creating a space for the local industry to come together, share ideas, and celebrate their shared passion for creative excellence. Before the evening's screening and jury Q&A, Matt addressed the crowd by revealing the long-held vision behind the event—creating a moment where local communities could experience the best global creative work firsthand. The screening and after-party were a realisation of this vision, reflecting LBB’s commitment to supporting and celebrating creativity around the world.
