Emma Wilson and Kyle Schouw, two designers working with the Dublin-based rom RichardsDee branding agency won gold in the design category at Cannes Young Lions awards this week.
This is the first time that Ireland has ever taken home gold in the Young Lions Competition in its’ 23 year history. 2017 also marks a watershed moment for Ireland at the Cannes Lions Festival with the largest contingent of Irish delegates travelling to the festival – 90 in total out of a total of 17,000 delegates.
Young Lions are aged under 30 and working in the creative industries. After competing in national heats, IAPI brought 14 Young Lions to compete in every competition category: print, PR, film, social, media, design, young marketers.
This is the first year that Ireland entered the design competition, with sponsorship from IAPI. In all, 23 teams in the design category received a brief from UN Women on Monday of the Festival and were given just 24 hours to create an award-winning brand identity and campaign. It was then presented to the jury panel, featuring some of the top creatives in the business. The winning design will now go into global production for UN Women
According to Nanette Braun, Chief Communications & Advocacy for UN Women: “Congratulations to Team Ireland for their Gold winning proposal! At UN Women, we are thrilled to benefit from the fresh ideas of outstanding young talents like Emma and Kyle. Our thanks go to all 23 competing teams and to the Young Lions Competition for giving us the opportunity to present this year’s design challenge.”
Commenting on the Young Lions competition, Aidan Greene, IAPI President said “IAPI’s commitment to the Cannes Young Lions competition has grown exponentially over the past three years. Our members and their clients must put creativity at the heart of their businesses. This starts with inspiring our young talent to be creatively brave irrespective of discipline or role. The Irish gold at this year’s festival demonstrates the exceptional ability in our industry which can go head to head with the best and brightest from around the globe and win.”
As part of their win, the two young creatives, Emma Wilson and Kyle Schouw will receive complimentary passes for next year’s Cannes Lions festival.
According to Emma Wilson: “Cannes Young Lions has been a fantastic experience. As an active and passionate feminist, to discover that we would be briefed by UN Women to tackle their challenging sub-brand and campaign brand architecture was, needless to say a dream for me. As the project progressed I learned that I had a wealth of knowledge to draw from, from my personal learnings and experience, and from my recent trip to the D&AD festival in April. I am beyond thrilled to have won the coveted Young Lions award, and am excited to see how the project will develop with UN Women as we work together to realise it.”
