ABBY Awards 2023 receives 3301 entries

ABBY Awards 2023 has got 3,301 entries, up from 3,021 last year. Media companies have increased their involvement to 63 this year, up from 54 last year. In addition, the number of creative companies participating in the awards have grown from 142 to 181.

The number of entries from media agencies has also increased to 1019 this year, up from 1014 the previous year. Similarly, the number of entries from creative agencies has increased from 2007 to 2282 this year.

Speaking about the journey of The ABBY Awards, which began last year, Partha Sinha, President, Times of India Group and President of The Advertising Club, stated, "Every single award in the world and in this country is profitable except us. We don't get paid anything. We are passionate about the industry and wish to contribute to it. As a result, it is genuinely purpose-driven. We must convey the industry's voice, which might be a tiny voice from a small city or a large voice from a big city."

He further added, "Today, India is internationally competitive in everything we do." So, in the business of communication, how can we state that the global standard is distinct from our standard? It can't be. We must be willing to be judged on a worldwide scale, be competitive on a global scale, and win on a global scale. The purpose of ABBY is inclusive for the industry, and portal to the global excellence standard."

Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India & Chairman, The ABBYs Award Governing Council said, " We received 3021 entries last year after a lot of hard work because we were returning after a three-year hiatus. We felt 3021 was a tremendous achievement after three years, but this year we received 3300 entries in one year. When compared to the previous three years, the number of entries has grown this year. So, if anybody has to say how effective has this whole journey been? Then you can see that there has been a humongous change."

Barua said that another achievement has been this year that there are a few agencies that have come back. "The entries might be lesser, but they've decided to join and come back to the ABBY's because they can see the difference One Show makes.

"We are extremely proud of the journey and two years that we've had. So, it's going to only get bigger and better as we keep going forward."

The jury chair this year includes Nick Law, Wesley ter Haar, Prajato Guha Thakurta, Avinash Pandey, Valerie Pinto, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Ashwini Deshpande, Emmanuel Upputuru, Sabyasachi Mitter, Bobby Pawar, P G Aditiya, Guneet Monga, Mangesh Rane, Russell Barrett, Mandie van der Merwe, Pallavi Chakravarti and Rajdeepak Das.

Speaking on the categories and agencies return, Ajay Kakar, Managing Committee Member, The Advertising Club & Co-chair, The ABBYs Award Governing Council shared that they sharpened the categories. For instance, the category was named Print in the early years, and has now been called still print and still digital. The category called film, is now called the category audio-visual.

"Over the years, we make sure that we remain contemporary to the times, to the industry and to the voice of the industry. We have a town hall where we invite people from the industry to come and share with us their thoughts that will be reflected. We yet have seven broad creative categories but the nomenclature, the definition, and the inclusion has changed."