The Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) has announced the Jury Presidents and full jury for the 35th edition of the ADCE Awards. This year’s jury consists of more than 55 creative professionals from 25 European countries, the highest number of markets represented in the competition’s history. The geographical reach has been expanded by Turkey, which joined the ADCE network in 2026. The jury will conduct the initial judging rounds online, while the final deliberations will take place in Barcelona on November 17 and 18.
The role of Overall Jury President will be taken on by Dörte Spengler-Ahrens, the recently appointed President of ADCE and Chairwoman of the Jung von Matt Group. Her role will be to lead the judging process and ensure consistency in the criteria across the different disciplines.
The Jury President for Film & Audio is Riccardo Fregoso, CCO Southern Europe at Dentsu Creative, while Print & Outdoor will be led by Márton Jedlicska, ECD at Publicis Media. The Interactive & Mobile jury will be headed by Juliana Paracencio, ECD at Droga5, while the Design category will be led by Liza Enebeis, Creative Director and Partner at Studio Dumbar/DEPT.
Malcolm Poynton, former Global CCO of Cheil Worldwide, has been appointed Jury President for Brand Development & Experience. Alejandro di Trolio, CCO of Cheil in Spain, will lead Integrated & Innovation, while Sophia Lindholm, an independent creative leader and former member of Forsman & Bodenfors, is the first Jury President of the new Creativity by Industry Sectors discipline.
The only representative of the Adriatic region in this year’s jury is Miha Avsenik, Art Director at the Slovenian agency Luna \TBWA. Avsenik will evaluate work in the Print & Outdoor discipline alongside creatives from Hungary, Ireland, Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Latvia.
The new Creativity by Industry Sectors discipline was introduced to ensure that work is also considered through the strategic, cultural and industry context in which it was created. Alongside creative professionals, its jury includes two client representatives, through which ADCE is seeking to broaden the perspective from which the quality of submitted projects is evaluated.
This year’s edition also brings a change to the entry rules. For the first time, projects that competed at one of the eligible local festivals may participate, opening the European level of the competition to a larger number of agencies and creative teams. The entry deadline is September 25.
The juries will award Gold, Silver and Bronze distinctions in each discipline, as well as the Grand Prix. They will also decide on the special European Star – Johannes Newrkla, Genius Loci, Green Star and Equal Star awards.
The third and final judging round, in which the Grand Prix and recipients of the special awards are selected, will once again be open to the public. Visitors to ADCE Creative Week will be able to follow the jury deliberations and see how the final decisions are reached. The winners will be announced at the gala ceremony in Barcelona on November 20.
The results of the ADCE Awards are also included in The One Club’s Global Creative Rankings, alongside results from The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, ONE Asia Creative Awards and Type Directors Club competitions. For European agencies, this is the final opportunity of the competition year to influence their position in the global creative rankings through their results.
