How our seminars and speakers are chosen

Each year, the Cannes Lions learning programme boasts seven days of inspirational sessions inside the Palais des Festivals. In 2012, more than 300 thought-leaders and experts in all forms of communications and creative thinking took to the stage to inspire, debate and entertain at the Festival across three different content streams.

The process of piecing together the learning programme gets underway each year in October. Those interested in being involved are each asked to submit three or four different ideas about what their session might cover, complete with information about proposed speakers, by the end of December. 

A dedicated team at Cannes Lions reviews all the suggestions, before providing feedback and suggestions about how sessions could be improved and refined. This team aims to create a content programme that genuinely reflects the breadth and diversity of the creative communications industries, with sessions covering a huge range of themes, but all united by the common thread of creativity. Then, in January and February, final selections are made and the team brings the programme together before it is published online in March.

There is no financial transaction either way, and taking a sponsorship at Cannes is not linked to presence on the seminar programme.

We began the process for the 2013 Festival in October. All questions and submissions should be made to content@canneslions.com.

How The Juries Are Chosen

Each year, nearly 300 members of the creative communications industries are invited to Cannes to serve on the juries that consider and award all the entered work at the Festival. To make sure that each piece of work is evaluated in an independent manner, the Festival follows a rigorous selection procedure when putting together these juries.

The Festival’s global network of Representatives is the first step in this process. These local representatives are asked each year to send nominations for possible jury selection from within their country. Whether a representative is asked to nominate jury members in a particular category is determined by the success of that country in winning Lions in the previous years, cross-referenced against the number of entries made by that country, as we want all judges to be award-winning and representative of countries that are entering Cannes Lions.

Once these nominations are all in, Cannes Lions selects the juries, taking care to ensure that each jury contains an even balance of members from around the globe and from a representative spread of agencies, independents, and networks.

The selection process for 2013 is now underway. If you have suggestions about potential jury members for 2013 please contact your local Festival Representative as soon as possible.