“The Composition of the Jury Matters Enormously”: How LIA's 2026 Jury Mirrors Adland’s Changing Landscape

​London International Awards (LIA) has revealed a jury line-up that it believes reflects the changing makeup of the advertising industry, with almost half of this year's judges coming from outside major global agency networks.

Of the 200 jurors selected for LIA 2026, 85 (42.5%) come from holding company agencies, while 72 (36%) represent independent agencies. The remaining jury comprises 17 client-side marketers (8.5%), 23 production experts (11.5%) and three members from political backgrounds.

The balance is also reflected at the top of the judging process, with five of this year's 20 jury presidents coming from independent agencies.

“As the world is evolving so quickly, because of demand and technology, many companies are finding that they need less staff,” says Barbara Levy, president of LIA. “This seismic change in our industry has caused a new ecosystem to arise that has been referred to as the ‘rise of the indies’.”

For LIA, the changing jury composition is intended to reflect the wider evolution of the industry rather than favour one agency model over another. The aim is to ensure work is assessed by people with experience across the breadth of modern commercial creativity, from global network campaigns to founder-led independent agencies and in-house brand work.

“Our strategy is to showcase that everyone has a voice and an equal opportunity to attain winner or finalist status,” says Christina Shaw, awards director at LIA. “We have always felt that our jury should be reflective of the industry and whatever shifts happen yearly, and it does that. Our juries represent the best talent globally, whether it is from a major network, an indie company or an in-house creative on the brand side.”

Some independent agency leaders believe many awards programmes favour the scale and resources of networks. “Some shows or categories within shows are undeniably in favour of large agencies (which favour networks) and major tech platforms, whereas others offer a more level, merit-based playing field,” says Brent Choi, partner and CEO at Canadian agency Angry Butterfly. This, he believes, comes down to a few factors: entry costs, jury dynamics, and “simple human nature”.

“A regional indie campaign has to be incredible to compete against a global, multi-million-dollar Super Bowl spot featuring Rihanna that’s already dominated headlines across the globe,” he says. “That being said, I see this more as a challenge we love taking on.”

“The tools of creation are becoming more accessible, but the resources required to identify, package, enter and promote creative work are not yet equally distributed,” says Julie Kang, co-founder and CEO at Flux AI in Korea. “For an independent agency, one or two unsuccessful entries can represent a meaningful cost to the entire business. As a result, even when the underlying ideas are equally strong, there can be a major difference in the ability to translate an idea into the language of a global award and make it visible.”

LIA believes openness is a key part of ensuring confidence in its judging process. Jury rooms remain open throughout the judging process, allowing members of the press, agency creative excellence managers, and more than 130 young creatives attending the Creative LIAisons Global Coaching Academy to observe discussions as they happen.

“The only thing that LIA favours is that the best work rises to the top regardless of who entered it,” says Christina.

On top of factors such as budget, the strength of the year's work and the commercial value of each show, jury composition is also a factor when it comes to how Julie decides where to enter awards.

“The composition of the jury matters enormously,” she says. “Leaders from network agencies understand global-scale campaigns, multinational collaboration and complex execution. Independent leaders understand what it takes to realise an idea with limited resources, the risks carried directly by founders and the value of ideas rooted in local culture.”

Julie is keen to stress this doesn’t mean she thinks indie-made work should receive favourable treatment. “It means jurors should be capable of understanding different production conditions while ultimately judging the strength of the idea itself. It is about ensuring that the jury includes people who understand creativity born under very different conditions.

“It’s always a privilege to judge, particularly on prestigious global juries like LIA,” Brent adds. “What makes seeing independent representation on these juries meaningful is the meritocracy behind it. When an indie leader gets chosen, you know it was earned on credential.”