The Immortal Awards 2025 Descends Upon Dubai for MEA Jury Day
Having wrapped up the European leg of judging, The Immortal Awards lands in Dubai for the MEA jury day on Wednesday 29th October.
Held in partnership with Boomtown Productions, the second regional session of the year will determine the next set of Finalists that will progress to the final, global round of judging in December.
A shortlist of 24 projects from markets including Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE will be discussed and debated by a jury packed with creative leaders from across the region.
The jury’s task is to decide which of these projects, if any, will receive MEA Finalist status, be celebrated as the region’s best examples of commercial creativity from the past year, and go on to compete in the global round of judging in December.
The projects will join the recently crowned European Finalists in that prize-giving round and compete for an Immortal Award or Commendation.
This year’s MEA jury includes:
- Wael Baytamouni (creative director, Science & Sunshine)
- Sarah Forbes (associate creative director, Impact BBDO)
- Bianca Geater (head of design, Dentsu Creative MENA)
- Rita Harbie (senior creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi)
- Shane Martin (founder, Boomtown Productions)
- Alex Pineda (chief creative officer, Horizon FCB Dubai)
- Tahaab Rais (regional chief strategy officer, Publicis Groupe MENAT)
- Ryan Reed (chief creative officer, M+C Saatchi)
- Hussein Sobh (music supervisor, MassiveMusic Dubai)
Paul Monan, head of creative excellence at Little Black Book, says, “Our MEA jury day is always a great session in which a really diverse body of work from throughout the region must stand up to the scrutiny of our jury. We’ve packed the jury with a blend of local and global talent, some of which have judged with us before and know the super high standards to which we strive for. We’re thrilled to partner with Boomtown Productions again this year, whose support allows us to bring this group together and judge in person.”
Having already completed judging across Europe, Little Black Book’s global advertising award will go on to host sessions in Toronto, New York and Sydney in the coming weeks.
The competition’s six regions -- Europe, MEA, North America, LATAM, AUNZ and Asia - each have their own jury days, selecting regional Finalists that will compete in the global round of judging.
At the global round of judging, held in partnership with music production company JSM Music in New York on December 3rd, the jury will decide which projects this year will pick up a Commendation or receive the ultimate prize -- an Immortal Award.
The Immortal Awards 2025 Jury Calendar
- Thursday, October 2nd: Germany Jury, Berlin, hosted by Innocean Berlin (See the Finalists here)
- Wednesday, October 15th: UK Jury, London, in partnership with Framestore and Company 3 (See the Finalists here)
- Tuesday, October 21st: Ireland Jury, Dublin, in partnership with The Brill Building, Rubberduck and Screen Scene (See the Finalists here)
- Thursday, October 23rd: Europe Jury, London, in partnership with Boo Agency and Park Pictures
- Wednesday, October 29th: MEA Jury, Dubai, in partnership with Boomtown Productions
- Tuesday, November 11th: Canada Jury, Toronto, in partnership with Zulu Alpha Kilo
- Thursday, November 13th: US Jury, New York, in partnership with Chelsea Pictures
- Friday, November 14th: North America Jury, New York, in partnership with Whitehouse Post
- Tuesday, November 18th: LATAM Jury, online
- Wednesday, November 26th: AUNZ Jury, Sydney, in partnership with Bear Meets Eagle on Fire and ARC
- Thursday, November 27th: Asia Jury, online
- Wednesday, December 3rd: Global Jury, New York, in partnership with JSM Music
