Colenso BBDO, Auckland leads the agency pack at shortlist stage of CAANZ 2012 Effie Awards

Representing 53% of the entries, 90 finalists have emerged from this week’s preliminary round judging of the 2012 Effie Awards.

42 judges in Wellington and 114 in Auckland ensured each entry was read six times, before the adjudicators tallied the scores to find this year’s finalists.

Colenso BBDO leads the agency pack with 22 finalists, followed by DraftFCB with 16. Barnes Catmur & Friends has 10 finalists, followed by DDB with nine.

Finalists have until business close on Monday to submit their creative material ready for Category judging on Wednesday. Category judging is made up of seven separate judging panels, each headed by an executive judge, judging entries in their categories.

Click to view the full list of finalists here – 2012 Effie Award Finalists.pdf

Says Lew Bentley, convener of judges: “Listening to some of the feedback from judges it seems that the truly great stories of well-designed advertising driving business success, still easily stand out. However, some entries let themselves down by not connecting the campaign with their business objectives or proving a strong return on investment.”

Judging panels are currently being appointed. Executive judging, led by international guest judge Charlie Robertson of the Red Spider Network, takes place on Monday 3rd September in Auckland.

CAANZ would like to pass on their thanks to the preliminary judges both in Wellington and Auckland. We greatly appreciate the time judges have given to assist in the important process of deciding this year’s finalists. We are also pleased the introduction of judging in Wellington was so well received.

Effie Awards, in association with TVNZ and ANZA will be presented on 11th October 2012 at the Langham Hotel.