The search for a worthy winner of this year’s IAPI Doyenne Award has begun in earnest. Now in its third year, Doyenne Award strives to recognise women working in advertising, media sales and PR who demonstrate leadership capability and who champion collaboration, teamwork and the industry at large.
Created by IAPI, the Doyenne Award, in association with Evoke.ie, is one of the many initiatives by IAPI aimed at fostering great equality at senior level. Creating gender balance at senior level is now viewed as one of the key industry challenges. The fact remains that just 13% of senior management at IAPI member agencies are female. Women are still significantly underrepresented at Director and Senior Management level across all Irish advertising agencies- creative, digital and media buying. This despite a 50:50 male/female split in terms of overall employment.
According to IAPI, the Doyenne Award is also an opportunity for senior management to formally recognise a leader in the making and to ultimately show leadership by doing so. It is hoped that the award will raise awareness and incentivise companies to change the status quo. Significantly, a number of male leaders, both on the agency and client side, attended the awards last year and this year, Colin Gordon CEO at Glanbia is chair of the judging panel.
Shortlisted entrants will not only be acknowledged as leaders amongst their peers but will also have the opportunity to get in front of key decision makers for some of Ireland’s top brands. Open to women aged 37 and under, entrants for both the Doyenne Award and The Rising Star award, introduced last year for those aged under 30, write a short 500 word piece outlining how they have shown leadership and excellence. Shortlisted entrants present to the judging panel the week of 22 February. The deadline for entries is Monday 16th February.
According to Colin Gordon, “I am very happy to take the seat as Chairman for the Doyenne awards this year. I feel this is an exciting time for the Irish advertising industry. I feel it’s incredibly important to recognise women in our industry and champion their efforts encouraging board level and senior management positions to become available. I hope that I can add some perspective in an area that I have been involved with for over 30 years”.
Tania Banotti, CEO of IAPI adds that she is confident the awards are making an impact. “Our ambition is not to need these awards over time as the gender balance shifts. A little rallying and encouragement to drive awareness amongst senior leaders of the great female talent is what is needed now. We encourage those in positions of power to do their part to create greater gender balance. It is only through the small steps of people in current leadership positions that change will come about.”
This year’s judges include Colin Gordon, CEO Glanbia; Alina Ui Chaollaí, director of marketing, Largo Foods; Dave Sneddon, director, DACH/CEE/Greece + Export at Google; Orlaith Blaney, freelance marketing consultant and former CEO of McCannBlue and Liz Doyle, sales manager Associated Newspapers.
