DUBAI, U.A.E:  Dubai Lynx, MENA’s leading platform for creative excellence and effectiveness, has revealed its 2026 Jury line-up. The Jury will convene in Dubai next year to set the benchmark for creativity across the region.

This year’s line-up brings together industry leaders from a broad range of markets, including first-time representation from Costa Rica, Uganda and Uzbekistan.

Independent agencies making their Jury debut include AMPFY, ágora, Coldr, Golden Communication Group, Joan Creative, RUN Aotearoa and Zurda Agency. Leading global brands such as Philips, Stanley 1913, Wolverine Worldwide and BET Media Group also join the Juries for the first time, underscoring a growing commitment from brands to celebrate creativity’s role in driving business growth.

Elsewhere in the line-up, Shannon Watkins, CEO, WBA, is announced as the 2026 Creative Effectiveness and Creative Strategy Jury President. With a career spanning more than 20 years across leading global brands such as Nike, Aflac and The Coca Cola Company, Watkins brings expertise that will be pivotal in guiding the Jury to benchmark work that celebrates how creativity can transform brands and deliver business success.

Commenting on the Jury line-up, Philip Thomas, Chairman, Dubai Lynx, said: “As MENA’s creative landscape continues to evolve, Dubai Lynx remains the benchmark for creative excellence. Our Jurors play a vital role in spotlighting ideas that resonate and deliver real business results. Thank you to this outstanding line-up for championing the transformative power of creativity.”

Ian Fairservice, Vice Chairman, Dubai Lynx, added: “We are excited to welcome a talented line-up of industry leaders to the Dubai Lynx Awards, including many first- time independent agencies, brands and markets. Their unique perspectives and expertise will ensure that the Awards continue to celebrate work that sets the standard for creative excellence. We look forward to welcoming them to Dubai next year and seeing the impactful work shaping the industry.”

The Dubai Lynx 2026 Juries have been named as:

Audio & Radio, Film, Print & Publishing

Judy John | Global Chief Creative Officer, Edelman, Global Carlos Baer | Chief Content and Production Officer, VML, EMEA

Diego Gueler Montero | Chief Creative Officer and Founder, Zurda Agency, Argentina James Feeler | Founder and Music Creative Director, Jamute, Brazil

Kartik Smetacek | Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi, India Thandeka Gilbert | Creative Director, McCann Joburg, South Africa Whitney Yando | Group Creative Director, 72andSunny New York, USA

Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Commerce

Marco Venturelli | President and Chief Creative Officer, Leo, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe France, and CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Conseil, Global Heloísa Santana | Executive President, AMPRO – Brazilian Association of Promotional Marketing, Brazil

Pannarai Juanroong | Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy, Thailand Rakesh Menon | Chief Creative Officer, FCB Interface, India

Richard McLeod | Global Chief Marketing Officer, Merrell, Wolverine Worldwide, Global

Thomas Knüwer | Chief Creative Officer, Accenture Song, Central and Eastern Europe

Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy Shannon Watkins | CEO, WBA, Global

Jonty Fisher | Chief Strategy and Integration Officer, Publicis Groupe Africa, South Africa Kara Yang | Managing Director, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Greater China

Minh San Vu | Executive Business Development Director cum Executive Strategic Planning Director, Hakuhodo International, Vietnam

Nadine Müller-Eckel | Chief Strategy Officer and Partner, Anomaly Berlin GmbH, Global Rafik Belmesk | Partner and Head of Strategy, Courage, Canada

Sanne Houterman | Strategy Director, Cheil Benelux, the Netherlands

Design, Industry Craft

Josefina Casellas | VP Executive Creative Director & General Manager SS LATAM, R/GA, SS LATAM

Eric Mununuzi | Creative Director, TBWA\Uganda, Uganda Hilary Badger | Executive Creative Director, Leo, Australia

Jelena Fiskus | Creative Director and Co-Founder, Studio Sonda, Croatia

Takayuki Niizawa | Managing Director, Landor Tokyo and Creative Lead, WPP, Japan Temur Sadi | CEO, MA’NO Branding, Uzbekistan

Tudor Cucu | Executive Creative Director Design, Serviceplan ZERO, Germany

Digital Craft, Social & Creator

Yasuharu Sasaki | Global Chief Creative Officer, dentsu, Global Andrea Siqueira | Partner and Chief Creative Officer, AMPFY, Brazil Enoma Edevbaro | Head of Social, SEK, Finland

Güldeniz Şeşen Bilginer | Executive Creative Director, Tribal Worldwide Istanbul, Turkey Jarek Carethers | Creative Innovation Lead, TikTok, USA

Joao Flores | Chief Creative Officer, Monks, Singapore

Pancho González | Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Inbrax, Chile

Direct, Outdoor

Joji Jacob | Regional Chief Creative Officer, Havas, South East Asia and North Asia Eveliina Rantahalvari | Head of Marketing, Musti Group, Nordics and Baltics Kagiso Musi | Group Managing Director, Meta Media, Global

Raymond Otene McKay | Chief Creative Director, RUN Aotearoa, Aotearoa New Zealand

Sam Rowlands | Executive Creative Director, LePub Amsterdam, the Netherlands Thamakorn Ruchakityanon | Executive Creative Director, Sour Bangkok, Thailand Zachary Bautista | Partner, Group Creative Director, Rethink, Canada

Entertainment

Laurence (‘Lolly’) Thomson | Joint Global Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi Group, Global

Chepe Antillón | Regional Chief Creative Director, Garnier BBDO, Global

Lex Remalante | Global Associate Creative Director, Our LEGO Agency at The LEGO Group, Global

Lulu Lu | Chief Creative Officer, VML, Taiwan

Rani Vaz | Managing Partner and Executive Creative Producer, Supreme Music, USA Trevor Ndhlovu | Chief Executive, Bodega Partners, Global CEO, Capsule Studios Inc., and Chief Brand Officer, Amplify Africa, Global

Film Craft

Zia Mandviwalla | Director, Finch, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia Ana de Diego | Founder, Spark & Riot, USA

Annie Lazarevski | Global Production Director, Havas Creative, Global Colin Foo | Creative Director and VFX Supervisor, thequietlab, Singapore Kelly Castilho | Film Director, Confeitaria Filmes, Brazil

Mohamed Diaa | Executive Creative Director, Joan Creative, USA

Sander Mölder | Executive Creative Director, Black Cat White Cat Music, Estonia

Healthcare

Tash Beecher | Creative Director, Syneos Health, Global & EMEA Agustín Alba | Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Creative, Argentina Clay MacGuire | SVP, Creative Director, 21GRAMS, USA

Dorelle Kulkarni | Managing Director, Havas Life Mumbai Pvt Ltd, India

Jon Haywood | Senior Design Strategist and Choice Engineer, Philips, Global

Media

Chrissie Hanson | CEO, OMD, USA

Dawn Rowlands | CEO, dentsu, South Africa

Elias Betinakis | Chief Strategy Officer, WPP Media, Sweden Kristine Ong | Media CEO, Publicis Media, Malaysia

Sham Islam | Executive VP and Group Managing Director, Global Clients, Havas Media Network, Global

Tiyale Hayes | Executive VP, Marketing and Audience Development, BET Media Group, USA

PR

Lerato Songelwa | Managing Director: South Africa, Burson, South Africa Erica Samadani | VP Communications and PR, Stanley 1913, Global

Fábio Santos | CEO, CDN, Brazil

Huong Nguyen | CEO, Golden Communication Group, Vietnam

James Wright | Global CEO, Havas Red, Global Chair, Havas PR Network, and Group CEO, Havas ANZ

Kamiqua Lake | CEO, Coldr, Global

Rogelio Blanco | President and Partner, ágora, Mexico

Entries into Dubai Lynx are being accepted until 22 January 2026. Further information on the Awards can be found at www.dubailynx.com/awards.

Contacts:
Camilla Lambert PR Director LIONS
Camillal@canneslions.com
Tash Naidoo Senior PR Manager LIONS
Tashn@canneslions.com

Indiana Edwards
PR Coordinator LIONS
Indianae@canneslions.com

Headshots: You can download headshots of the Juries here.
Press Portal: press.canneslions.com
Awards enquiries: awards@dubailynx.com

About Dubai Lynx:

Dubai Lynx is MENA’s leading Awards for creative excellence and effectiveness, in the Middle East and North Africa. Presented by Ascential, organisers of Cannes Lions, together with their regional partners, Motivate Media Group, the Dubai Lynx, is held in association with the UAE Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and with the support of Dubai Media City (DMC). The Awards serve as the definitive benchmark for creative excellence, marketing strategy and effectiveness in MENA.

www.dubailynx.com

About Motivate Media Group:

Motivate Media Group operates across the GCC and MENA region with a diverse portfolio of media interests comprising magazines, digital, social, video, exhibitions & events, cinema and books.

A leading publisher in the Gulf since 1979, its portfolio includes market-leading magazines, eight websites and over 300 book titles. Motivate’s digital and video division is an established content provider for some of the region’s largest companies and the Motivate events team expertly stage some of the GCC’s major award ceremonies, festivals and activations.

With a staff of more than 200 experienced and dedicated professionals, Motivate is committed to providing editorial excellence, and a corporate mission to develop integrated communication channels that entertain, inform and enrich.

Motivatemedia.com

About LIONS:

LIONS is the global platform that champions creativity and marketing effectiveness for growth. We help businesses grow through creative marketing that matters.

We know that creativity can and should be applied across the full marketing mix. Creativity is an impactful business driver - and when it's integrated with a culture of effectiveness, it's a competitive advantage.

Backed by over 150 years of experience and evidence, Cannes Lions, WARC, Effie, Contagious and Acuity - provides the global marketing industry with the definitive benchmarks, intelligence, training and tailored advice needed to grow.

LIONS is part of Informa PLC.

 www.lions.co

About Informa:

Informa PLC is a leading international B2B events, digital services and academic research group. We champion specialists. Through hundreds of market-leading brands, we connect people with knowledge so they can learn more, know more and do more.

We operate in over 30 countries and serve businesses and professionals working in over a dozen specialist markets.

Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100. www.informa.com