Adding to this week's announcement of this
year's London International Award winners, the results of the Gorilla
Doctors creative competition have also been announced and Y&R
Melbourne's Janice Ko and Jack Harrison is one of two teams to be
awarded Gold for their
'Gorilla Health Plan' work.
Says Ko (left) and Harrison (right): "We're pretty thrilled with the result and the
recognition, especially considering the tough competition. This brief
success should silence our imposter syndromes for about two days."
The challenge was to produce a creative piece of work to help promote the work of the
Gorilla Doctors and the prizes on offer were a once-in-a-lifetime trip
for two to visit Rwanda, home to the critically endangered Mountain
Gorillas. And, for a second team be invited to participate at LIA 2019 in Las Vegas.
'Gorilla Issues Tissues'
by Sadie Mayes, art director at VCCP Health London was chosen as the
First Prize Winner of the Gorilla Doctors' Competition. Meyers wins an
Ecotour trip donated by Terra
Incognito Ecotours.
Silver went to Megan Knoph and Chelsey Eichler of MRM//McCann Detroit for
'#LikeMe'.
Bronze winners were Lucy Downs and Nick Crawford from Strawberry Frog New York for
'Limited Edition' and Soleil Badenhop of Dentsu JaymeSyfu, Makati for
'Citizen Ape'.
All
entries were judged on site during the London International
Awards judging and Creative LIAisons program held in Las Vegas.
The
competition was judged by a team of industry creative leaders that
included the legendary Bob Isherwood, Leo Burnett's global CCO Mark
Tutssel and Innocean Worldwide's global CCO Jeremy Craigen. Also on the
panel was McCann Health's Marcia Goddard, Anna Fawcett (Filmgraphics
Australia) and Kirsten Gilardi and Mike Cranfield from Gorilla Doctors.
The response to the competition was astounding - with 243 individual entries received.
30 concepts were then shortlisted to be shown in the final judging, with
the whole gathering of 100 young creatives attending the Creative
LIAisons witnessing the judging.
Following the final round of judging 9 concepts made the cut to win Gold, Silver, Bronze.
The final judging saw 5 concepts rise to the top and
there was a general consensus that at lest three of these concepts must
get released.
The competitions was generously sponsored by McCann Health.

There
are currently about 1004 mountain gorillas left on earth. Habitat loss,
poaching and disease have made these gorillas one of the most
endangered species alive. Today, thanks largely to the efforts of a
group of dedicated veterinarians called Gorilla Doctors, their numbers
are rising.
Gorilla Doctors are a team of 16 doctors who operate across
gorilla territories - spanning the rainforests of Rwanda, Uganda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This team is supported by the
non-profit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP. Inc) and the UC
Davis Wildlife Health Center.
They are the ONLY provider of in-situ
veterinary care for wild mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and DRC and
their close cousins, the Grauer's gorillas in eastern DRC. Gorilla
Doctors' main goals are to keep the gorilla populations safe, healthy
and thriving. They treat the gorillas for life-threatening injuries and
illnesses caused by close contact between gorillas and humankind.