BalCannes, the leading regional platform showcasing top creativity from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia, launches a new season with a fully refreshed concept and a series of important updates. The competition continues to gather the region’s best projects and present them to a professional communications industry audience, with the goal of giving the most successful ideas and executions the visibility they deserve. The competition structure remains recognisable: three juries – agency jury, advertisers’ jury, and media jury – continue to bring three different perspectives.
Entries for the new season can be submitted in four groups:
- Best on Market
- Best in Channel
- Best Branding and Rebranding
- Best of Positive Change
BEST IN CHANNEL: FROM TV SPOTS TO SOCIAL MEDIA
A special innovation this year is that projects will also be evaluated by channels, i.e. formats in which they were executed, and not exclusively within market categories. The Best in Channel group includes projects executed in various formats such as video, print, outdoor advertising, audio, packaging and digital. With this, BalCannes will further refine the evaluation of exceptional ideas, from individual formats to integrated campaigns, more clearly recognising works that push the boundaries in specific media and communication environments. The list of categories in this group can be found below:
- Best TV Spot & Film
- Best Online Video
- Best Print (Ad, Publication, Poster)
- Best Outdoor – OOH
- Best Digital Outdoor – DOOH
- Best Audio & Radio
- Best Experiential Advertising & Events
- Best Low-Volume Packaging Design
- Best High-Volume Packaging Design
- Best Digital Product
- Best Social Media Idea
- Best Creative Use of Technology
BEST OF BRANDING & REBRANDING
In Group III. Best of Branding & Rebranding, the categories Branding and Rebranding are highlighted, with the group recognised as a standalone strategic and creative challenge requiring deeper expert evaluation. The Branding category awards projects focused on creating and shaping brand identity for products, new services or organisations in the market, while the Rebranding category awards all projects dedicated to creating and shaping refreshed identities for existing products, services or organisations.
NEW MARKET CATEGORIES AND SPECIAL POSITIVE CHANGE AWARD
Group I. Best on Market is expanding with two new categories: Technology & Electronics and Energetics & Mobility, joining the existing categories: Food; Alcoholic Beverages; Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Telecommunications; Finance, Insurance & Fintech; Retail; Health & Pharmacy; Household; Fashion & Beauty; Tourism, Culture & Leisure; Corporate Communications; Entertainment; Miscellaneous.
Group IV. Best of Positive Change is further expanded with new categories (Environment & Sustainability, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, Health & Well-being, Education & Empowerment, and Community & Culture), and it also introduces a special main award, Impact Prix, which will be awarded to the project with the highest score within this group, celebrating social efforts and the power of creativity to spark positive change in the world.
BENEFITS FOR APPLICANTS
Agencies have the opportunity to take advantage of a 3 + 1 promotion, meaning that for every three registered entries, one additional entry can be submitted for free. On the other hand, agencies that haven’t submitted work in the past three years are entitled to one free entry. This initiative opens the competition to both new and existing agencies, motivating them to present their work and compete for prestigious awards.
It is possible to submit fully integrated campaigns, as well as individual, unique elements within a campaign that represent a single idea executed during the two-year qualification period from 23 January 2024 to 23 January 2026. The regular application deadline is 18 December 2025, while the late application deadline is 23 January 2026.
For all details on the competition and submission process, review the new BalCannes regulations on the official website.
