Dubai Lynx, the leading platform for creative excellence and effectiveness in the Middle East and North Africa, MENA, has announced its 2025 Jury line-up.
The organization disclosed the names of jurors in each of its Juries for the 2025 edition of the awards through a recent press release.
It disclosed that this year, agencies and networks making their Jury debut include Design Bridge and Partners, Momentum Worldwide and 21GRAMS, Part of Real Chemistry. Esteemed brands and companies such as BUCK and Joe Public will also be represented on the Juries for the first time, highlighting a growing diversity of perspectives and expertise. Jurors confirmed from 28 markets, including Croatia for the first time, will come together in Dubai to benchmark creative excellence across the region.
The Dubai Lynx 2025 Juries are as stated below:
Audio & Radio, Film, Print & Publishing
Chris Beresford-Hill, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide, Global Bharat Kumar, Executive Creative Director, Momentum Worldwide, USA
Chrystel Jung, Creative Director, BETC, France Dora Osinde, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy GmbH, Germany Emily Y. Wu, Executive Producer, Ghost Island Media, Taiwan
Gustavo Victorino, Chief Creative Officer, Talent, Brazil
Martin Schlumpf, Executive Creative Director, Joe Public, South Africa
Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Commerce
Ryan McManus, Chief Creative Officer, VML, UK Crystal Vinisse Thomas, Vice President, Global Brands, Lifestyle & Luxury, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Global Patrick Bennett, Global Chief Creative Officer, Jack Morton Worldwide, Global Rafael Gil, Chief Creative Officer, Artplan, Brazil Sebastian Klett, General Manager, Publicis Groupe Australia, Australia Uyen Pham, Chief Marketing Officer, Ninety Eight, Vietnam
Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy
Chioma Aduba, President, Droga5 New York, USA Ana Alonso, Global Strategy Director, VML, Global Josh Taylor Dadds, Group Strategy Director, Special, Aotearoa New Zealand Marina Pires, Country Managing Director, Monks, Brazil Nhan Mai, Skin Cleansing Vietnam and Deodorant Vietnam Category Business Lead, Unilever, Vietnam
Pat Stephenson, Founder and Chief Relationship Officer, Boys + Girls, IrelandSaid Gil, CEO, Dentsu Creative, Mexico
Design, Industry Craft
Mayuri Nikumbh, Head of Design, Conran Design Mumbai, India Amanda Smith, Creative Director, BUCK, the Netherlands Heitor Piffer, Executive Creative Director, Design Bridge and Partners, Brazil Jessika De Freites, Senior Art Director, Cheil, Spain
Tim Woolford, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Australia Yuhei Ito, Head of Design, TBWA\HAKUHODO, Japan Lauren Kimball, EVP, Experience Design Director, Edelman, USA
Digital Craft, Social & Influencer
Mihnea Gheorghiu, Global Chief Creative Officer, LePub, Global Elisa Konttinen, Creative Director, Reaktor, Finland Juanita León, Premium Local Brands Director, AB-InBev, Colombia Neville Shah, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Kinnect and FCB/Six, India Sanya Grujicic, Executive Creative Director, Monks, Canada Vinod Savio, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Group, Singapore
Direct, Outdoor
Neo Mashigo, Chief Creative Officer, The Up&Up Group, South Africa
Benjamin Vendramin, US and Global Chief Creative and Content Officer, EssenceMediacom, Global Elizabeth Juarez, Creative Vice President, VECTOR B, Mexico
Mike Dubrick, Chief Creative Officer, Rethink Toronto, Canada Rachel Kennedy, Group Creative Director, Forsman & Bodenfors, Singapore Sara Clewemar, Independent Brand & Creative Lead, Sweden Sean Poropat, Creative Director, Studio Sonda, Croatia
Entertainment
Matt Murphy, Global Chief Creative Officer, 72andSunny, Global Britney Pai, Head of Entertainment, Greater North Asia, dentsu, Greater North Asia, César Castaño Salazar, Executive Creative Director, Monks, Colombia Juan Woodbury, EVP, Head of Branded Content and Entertainment, North America, Prose on Pixels, North America Kaleesha Rajamantri, Head of Prime Video SVOD – Business, Amazon Ads, Global Michiel Marsman, Executive Creative Director, Sizzer, the Netherlands
Film Craft
Aisha Blackwell, Head of Production Services, Serviceplan MAKE, Germany Cristiana Williams, Executive Producer of Global Origination, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, USA Felipe Luchi, Director/Creative Director, Santeria, Brazil Katherine Jones, SVP – Production Practice Africa , Publicis Groupe, South Africa Louise Bonnar-Whitehead, Head of Film, Havas London, UK Marius Talampas, Director, Managing Partner, Arcade, the Philippines
Healthcare
Roberta Raduan, Managing Director, Klick Health, LATAM Bakani Ntaisi, Head of Marketing Consumer Division, Adcock Ingram, South Africa John McPartland, Executive Creative Director EMEA, Ogilvy Health UK, EMEA Katie Dean, SVP Creative Director, 21GRAMS, USA Joy Zhu, Managing Director, McCann Health China, Mainland China
Media
Fiona Johnston, CEO – Media, Client and Commercial, dentsu, Australia Anisha Iyer, CEO, OMD, India Janet Levine, Head of Global Invention, Mindshare, Global
Kien Lim, CEO, Havas Media Network China, Mainland China Pedro Santos García, Chief Growth Officer, Zelva, Colombia Yvonne Bertolino-Goos, Senior Media Advisor, Zilveren Kruis, the Netherland.
PR
Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, Chief Client and Growth Officer, Asia Pacific, Weber Shandwick, APAC Lauren Haberfield, Executive Creative Director, Edelman, France
Pablo Sanchez Liste, Managing Director, Untold, Argentina Parveez Modak, Managing Director – Strategy, MSL, India Randa Stephan, Global Chief Brand Officer, Burson, Global Sera Holland, UK CEO, Ketchum, UK Sylvester Chauke, Chief Architect, DNA Brand Architects, South Africa
The 2025 Dubai Lynx Awards have introduced exciting updates to better reflect the evolving creative landscape. The Digital Lynx has transformed into the Digital Craft Lynx, highlighting the growing significance of technological artistry across platforms. Similarly, the Social & Influencer Award has been refreshed to honour the influential role creators play in shaping and amplifying brand messages in today’s dynamic digital ecosystem.
Commenting on the Jury President line-up, Philip Thomas, Chairman, Dubai Lynx, said: “The Dubai Lynx Awards represent the spirit of creativity and innovation that drives the MENA region forward. Our Jurors play a pivotal role in upholding these values, bringing their unparalleled expertise and unique perspectives to the judging process. We are thrilled to welcome such an esteemed group of industry leaders to guide this year’s Awards and celebrate the transformative power of creativity.”
Ian Fairservice, Vice Chairman, Dubai Lynx, added: “We have an incredible line-up of global creative experts and we’re delighted to see representation from a broad range of agencies, brands and companies – including many for the first time – allowing a diverse range of voices in the Jury rooms. We’re grateful to all of our 2025 Juries for devoting their time and knowledge, and we can’t wait to see our Jurors in action in Dubai later this year.”
Mihnea Gheorghiu, Global Chief Creative Officer, LePub and Jury President for the Digital Craft and Social & Influencer Lynx Awards, shared his perspective: “The MENA region holds surprising stories that many of us are not familiar with. There are different challenges and brilliant minds that come up with fantastic solutions that can innovate and inspire way beyond the region. In our Jury’s case, we’re looking for those solutions that have either groundbreaking digital craftsmanship or redefine how brands connect with audiences on social through smart creator-driven campaigns. I’m very excited to go really deep into stimulating discussions with my Jury and decide what really stands out.”
Other changes include an update to the Audio & Radio Lynx Award to reflect the expansion of Audio work across the industry, a refresh to the PR Lynx Award to accurately reflect the current PR industry and an evolved entry process to focus on areas of Sustainability, DEI and Cultural Context.
Further information on the Awards can be found at www.dubailynx.com/awards
