ADCOLOR, the organisation dedicated to celebrating and promoting professionals of colour and diversity in the creative industries, has announced the nominees and honourees for the 14th Annual ADCOLOR Awards. The annual event highlights and honours the achievements of diverse communities in the advertising, marketing, PR, media and entertainment industries since 2007. They recognise those who go above and beyond to make a difference and embody the organisation’s call to “Rise Up, Reach Back”, according to the organiser.
This year, ADCOLOR (in partnership with Adweek), will be honouring the founders of Black Lives Matter with the 2020 Beacon Award. The award honours individuals of note who use their considerable platform to change the status quo in the quest for diversity, equity and inclusion. “We are honoured to present the second-annual Beacon Award to Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the founders of Black Lives Matter,” stated Lisa Granatstein, Editor and SVP of Programming at Adweek. “This is truly the year of BLM. We are blown away by how this remarkable group has transcended its early beginnings as a grassroots organisation and become one of the most powerful political and cultural movements in U.S. history.”
ADCOLOR and The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) also teamed up this year to create a new award category: The AAFCA + ADCOLOR Creative to Watch Award. This award honours a creative of colour whose career in its early stages demonstrates a vision and commitment to diverse and inclusive stories that reset and disrupt the industry across multiple platforms. The winner of the inaugural award will be announced at a later date.
2020 ADCOLOR NOMINEES
This year’s nomimees include:
The Ad of the Year
- Campaign: “The Look”
Client: Proctor & Gamble
Agency: Saturday Morning - Campaign: “True Name”
Client: Mastercard
Agency: McCann Worldgroup - Campaign: “Most Searched”
Client: Google
Agency: Brand Studio - Campaign: “All for 1”
Client: Nike
Agency: Paper - Campaign: “1619”
Client: New York Times
Agency: Droga5
Rising Star
- Justin Hutchinson, Partnership Coordinator, ThreeSixtyEight
- Nayantara Dutta, Senior Content Strategist, McCann Worldgroup; Founder, Unapologetically Muslim
- Abu Ngauja, Manager, Talent Experience & Belonging, The Martin Agency
Rockstar
- KR Liu, Head of Brand Accessibility, Google Brand Studio
- Supriya Venkatesan, Director of Content Strategy, Critical Mass
- Chantel George, Account Executive, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Innovator
- Tamika Newhouse, Founder, AAMBC Inc.
- Kudzi Chikumbu, Director, Creator Community, Tik Tok
- Steph Loffredo, Associate Director, Social Marketing, Huge
Change Agent
- Darla Price, EVP, Executive Account Director, McCann Worldgroup
- Judy Jackson, Global Head of Culture, WPP
- Chanel Cathey, Founder and CEO, CJC Insights LLC
ADCOLOR in Tech
- Andrea Belalcazar, Program Manager, Infra Diversity & Inclusion, Facebook
- McKenzie Thomas, Product Marketing Manager, Google
- Ty Heath, Global Lead, B2B Institute at LinkedIn
Most Valuable Partnership
- AT&T & 360 Agency
- HBO & The Atlantic
- Google & Creative Theory
2020 ADCOLOR HONOREES
This year’s ADCOLOR honourees include:
Beacon Award presented by ADWEEK
- Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor, Black Lives Matter
- Alicia Garza, Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter
- Opal Tometi, Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter
Legend Awards
- Soon Mee Kim, EVP, Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader, Porter Novelli
- Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, Executive Vice President, Entertainment Diversity, Inclusion & Communications, CBS Entertainment
- Alvin Bowles, VP, Global Marketing Partnerships, Facebook
Catalyst Awards
- Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, The Recording Academy
- ColorComm, Inc., Woman of Color in Communications
Advocate Awards
- Damon Jones, Chief Communications Officer, Proctor & Gamble
- Don Lemon, Anchor, CNN
Lifetime Achievement Awards
- Renetta McCann, Chief Inclusion Experience Officer, Publicis Groupe
- Warrington Huddlin, Founding President, Black Filmmaker Foundation
ADCOLOR |One Club Creative Awards
- Ivellisse Morales, Founder & CEO, bombilla
- Soham Chatterjee, Senior Creative Copywriter, Leo Burnett
Mr ADCOLOR
- Bryan Stromer, Founder & Co-Lead, Disability in Marketing, Microsoft
Ms ADCOLOR
- Deborah Renteria, Manager, Multicultural Marketing, HBO
ADCOLOR FUTURES
In addition to the ADCOLOR awards, the organisation announced its 2020 class of ADCOLOR FUTURES. Building on the motto of “Rise Up, Reach Back”, the ADCOLOR FUTURES programme identifies and nurtures the next generation of leaders who have one to three years of experience in their industry. The programme provides training, mentorship and empowerment to these young professionals with the goal of supporting the talent of tomorrow, today. This year’s 2020 FUTURES include:
- Amala Okpala, Partner Manager, Facebook
- Amera-Rime Lulu, Art Director, Red Fuse (VMLY&R)
- Anthony Santa Maria, Senior Associate of Communications and Marketing
- Anthony Williams, Brand Executive, Wieden + Kennedy
- Chanel James, Graphic Designer, EAB
- Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, Black Womxn United
- Chizita Biosah, Search Product Specialist, Google
- Christiana Burnett, Media Planner/Buyer, Bader Rutter
- Clara Lu, Graphic Designer, Zeta Global
- Esther Ladipo, Agency Partner Manager, Facebook
- Folasade Ade-Banjo, Global Product Marketing Manager, Google
- Jeremy Wood, Marketing Coordinator, McGarrah Jessee
- Karlie Thornton, Junior Art Director, Fluent360
- Kevin Ma, Strategist, BBH
- Lauren Nicholson, Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft
- Leneil Roderique, Creative, Vice Media
- Logan Nelson, Marketing Specialist, Truth Initiative
- Madison Li, Marketing Strategy, NBCUniversal
- Meghan Onserio, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google
- Nehemiah Bishop, Partner Manager, Facebook
- Phelicia Ball, Marketing Strategist, Mightily
- Rachita Vasan, Strategist, Leo Burnett
- Sahara Gipson, Content Strategist, Forbes Media
- Shahrazad Hired, Communications Associate, The Wilson Center
- Sonya Bessalel, Assistant Account Executive, GMMB
- Yessenia Downs, Copywriter, FCB Chicago
- Zanah Thirus, Content Producer, Havas Annex
- Zuha Khan, Senior Media Planner, Trilogy Interactive
ADCOLOR EVERYWHERE EVENT
ADCOLOR’s 2020 event, which includes the ADCOLOR Conference, ADCOLOR FUTURES programme and the 14th Annual ADCOLOR Awards, will be virtual this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The organisation’s first online event has been rebranded as ADCOLOR Everywhere and will take place on September 8-10, 2020.
“While we can’t gather anywhere physically this year, going virtual allows everyone everywhere to be a part of the 2020 event,” said Tiffany R. Warren, Founder and President of ADCOLOR. “With ADCOLOR Everywhere, we are reimagining how the industry does online events and aim to provide the same energy and premier experience we typically offer in-person. It’s shaping up to be something truly memorable, as is evident from the outstanding list of nominees, honourees and FUTURES announced today.”
Registration for ADCOLOR Everywhere will open on Wednesday August 12.. Click here for more information and here to see last year’s winners.
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