Judges
The judges have been finalised. We are very happy to announce the panel of international and local judges, carefully selected for their expertise, either as general specialists and luminaries in the industry, or as masters of a niche field.
Three local industry-experts will assess submissions at an overall level; together with judges appointed at a category level for their expertise and knowledge in that specific field.
The intention is that the combination of generic and specialist perspectives should guarantee a fair, empathetic, knowledgeable and accurate reflection of the very best in the South African digital world – taking all the challenges and realities of each sector into account.
Jury chair
(Agency & Publisher)
Jack Kruger
Jack is the Head of Digital at Old Mutual, previously director and executive producer at Ogilvy Interactive, and owner of GestaltUX digital consultancy.
A digital strategist and experience designer, he specialises in large corporate and retail digital business development – with some 15 years experience launching several start-up projects and directing digital ventures for multinational companies. Duringthis time he has delivered web and mobile solutions to a diverse mix of brands across several industries and markets, including: Anglo, Volkswagen, Audi, Telkom, Old Mutual Group companies, South African Breweries (SAB), Nedcor Bank, IBM, British American Tobacco, Saxenburg Wine, and others.
Jack is a passionate usability and experience design advocate, and a Certified Usability Analyst (CUA). He is a regular presenter, lectures to graduate business school students – and pursues skill-share programmes with not-for-profit organisations.
When not travelling along the digital road, he seeks out the remotest places on earth. He is a keen mountaineer and adventurer, and currently on the last of his 9 lives. He plans not to lose it while climbing Kilimanjaro barefoot in an upcoming expedition.
International
Agency
Antti Kupila
Antti is the Technical Director at Sid Lee Amsterdam, an independent international creative agency.
He started in Finland, took a loop through Sweden at Hyper Island, spent a couple of years in San Francisco at AKQA and via Canada, ended up at Sid Lee in Amsterdam. Antti is responsible for the creative technology department with the focus on pushing things to the next level, thinking outside the box, and sometimes finding MacGyver solutions to tricky problems.
Being passionate about using technology to solve problems – not the focus point itself – he enjoys working on projects that are a combination of smart, creative and fresh thinking.
Publisher
Teresa H. Clarke
Teresa H. Clarke, chairman and CEO of Africa.com LLC, left Goldman Sachs & Co as the managing director of the investment banking division to launch the company in 2010. Her goal is change the way the world sees Africa and to be the platform for those changes.
Africa.com is the fastest growing Africa-related website, with nearly five million page views per month; and has partnered with a number of best-in-class content providers including the Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Affairs and HAND/EYE Magazines, McKinsey and Co., the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative, Freedom House and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Business (amongst numerous other awards), her impressive track record includes: teaching corporate finance to Wits Business School MBA students, serving on the investment committee of a private equity fund that invested in the Southern Africa region, co-founding the Student Sponsorship Programme, launching Goldman Sach’s Global Markets Institute and various leadership development programmes, as well as serving on numerous boards.
Local
Generic
Jason Xenopolous (Native)
Jason is currently the CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Native. Apart from a BFA Honours in Film & TV from New York University and being an award-winning film director, he is also a Father of triplets. Creative guru behind the launch of some of the country’s top brands, it’s hard to know where to begin when listing all of his achievements. His career has spanned most areas of the digital media space and he has done truly great things in all of them.
When you listen to Jason talk about trends in digital marketing, you don’t just get the impression that he knows the space. You know that he is standing on the cutting edge and guiding the blade.
Most importantly, he does a tremendous Jack Parow impression.
Brent Shahim (Aqua Online)
Brent is currently the MD of Aqua Online. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant, having completing his articles at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an honoursdegree in Business Information Systems from Wits.
Nic Wittenberg (Ogilvy)
Nicholas Wittenberg has over 20 years experience in branding and marketing, developing strategies and campaigns for television, print, and across all digital platforms. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, LA and London; in diverse sectors; for numerous clients including Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, South African Breweries, Twentieth Century Fox, Microsoft, Macromedia (now Adobe), Logitech, VeriSign, Interscope Records, Nickelodeon, Kodak, Janus, and The Smithsonian Institute.
Publisher
Elan Lohmann (Avusa)
Elan Lohmann has been a local online pioneer for over a decade holding many key commercial corporate and industry positions over this time. He is now Group Digital MD for Avusa LTD. Some of the brands included in his portfolio Career Junction, I-Net Bridge, MapIT, Times LIVE, Sowetan LIVE and Exclusives.co.za.
Before moving to an executive level he has made a career in Publishing – leading Avusa Media LIVE and previously News24.com for a few years as publisher. While at the 24.com group he was also accountable for Sport24, Netads24, 24.com Social Media and the Property24 rebuild. Elan was a founding member of the Online Publishing Association (OPA) and spent 2 years on the Executive contributing in many aspects of the SA digital media industry. Over this time he has also mentored much young talent.
Bridget Pringle (iAfrica.com)
Bridget began her online career in 1998 as part of the editorial team of the newly created IOL. After a move to Joburg and a stint in the web department at MNET in the early 2000s, she moved over to the print world, working for the Sunday Times and the Times. Bridget now manages iafrica.com, one of the country’s oldest online brands – a role she’s been in for the past two years.
Alistair Fairweather (Mail & Guardian)
Alistair has been in online publishing since 2001 in tech start-ups here and abroad, as a web designer, on the MWEb portal editorial team, in onnline product management and building web applications.
He’s been part of 20FourLabs – the erstwhile innovation division of 24.com; and Social Media manager for Media24 Magazines. His current role as DigitalPlatforms Manager for the Mail & Guardian Online has seen him launch the M&G iPhone app (the first paid news app in the local market), the firstKindle edition in Africa, and soon, the anticipated iPad edition of the weekly paper.
Tech. developer
Sophia Raw (Quirk)
Sophia Raw is currently Head of Engineering at Quirk. A graduate from the University of Stellenbosch, she joined Quirk Agency in January 2004, bringing with her excellent mainframe systems and COBOL experience.
Usability / Interactive (Craft awards)
Rian van der Merwe (Kalahari.com)
Rian is an American/South African dual citizen who is passionate about designing and building high quality software that people love to use. He specialises in helping teams create software development processes that are efficient and tailored to the unique needs of the business. He also works with teams to build out user-experience design strategies, and execute those strategies to deliver measurable business results through user experience improvements. He spent over 6 years based in Silicon Valley, California, and he is currentlybased in Cape Town, South Africa.
Search / Display
Adriaan Strydom (Clicks2Customers)
Adriaan joined the executive team at incuBeta Holdings (Pty) Ltd & Clicks2Customers in December 2005 and has never looked back. Before joining Clicks2Customers, Adriaan worked and consulted on Internet and other web-based projects ranging from intranets to ERP systems. He was a full-time member of the SA Navy for 14 years, where he developed a keen interest in modern technologies. He is a commissioned officer in the SA Navy Reserve.
His qualifications include a BMil (majoring in Economics and Industrial Psychology), BB&A Hons. and an MBA (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch Business School, with distinctions in most subjects. He received the MasterCard (Southern Africa) Award for the top research project in e-commerce. He has also attended the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands and École de Management de Lyon in France. He loves social media, but believes in search. Pastimes include a Subaru or two, road trips, recompiling kernels, and caring for feathered and furry friends.
Andrea Mitchell (DigiVox)
Andrea is the founder and Managing Director of specialist digital marketing agency, digiVOX.
She was one of the first online media specialists in the country, has fulfilledvarious roles in digital marketing, and been an avid contributor to the development of the digital landscape and to industry progression and standardisation.
Andrea is also involved in training and education and was key in compiling the content for The DMMA Guide to Online Advertising. She is currently serving on the DMMA Executive Committee as Head of Research.
Intern / Student
John Cooney (Red & Yellow)
“After more than thirty years in the communications industry I know that textbooks can’t really teach people the skills, passion and proactivity that advertising demands.”
“The only sure way to activate self-motivation is by making a training program as close to the real world as possible. Bright, young, energetic people flourish and it’s wonderful to see how high they fly when they not only know they’re performing well but when they can match their talents and preferences to the opportunities the industry offers them.”
“A very important part of our program is not only getting young people to know a lot about the business they are going to go into but also to get them to know a lot about themselves… their strengths and weaknesses as individuals and team players, how and where they’re most likely to succeed and how to get there quickly.” John Cooney, through his Client Service and Agency Management experience at some of South Africa’s foremost advertising agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather RSTM, TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Bates and Sonnenberg Murphy.
Alex Rees (Quirk)
Alex Rees is currently a Planner at Quirk Cape Town. After completing her BA at Rhodes, Alex went on to Vega to finish her Honours Degree in Brand Leadership. Before joining Quirk, Alex gained significant experience in the online realm, working as an Account Manager for an online marketing company in sunny Durban and dabbling in some freelance SEO copywriting. (She was also last year’s Student runner-up – so she knows the Bookmarks!)
Mobile
Jason Probert (Vodacom)
Jason is a digital pioneer with 15 years’ experience in launching and managing some of the biggest digital businesses in South Africa, including the biggest ISP portal (mweb.co.za), sports site (supersport.com), blog (keo.co.za) and TV sites (BigBrother, Idols, Survivor). A left/right brain who understands how to integrate media and technology to create rich consumer experiences and whose goal is to transform the world of media through new technologies.
Vincent Maher (Motribe)
Vince is the CTO and co-founder of Motribe (http://motribe.com), a mobile community platform. Previously he was the portfolio manager for social media and the commercialmanager for mobile advertising at Vodacom, the strategist at the Mail &Guardian Online and creator of Amatomu.com, the South African blog aggregator and analytics system.
Before that he was director of the New Media Lab (which he helped create in 1996) at the Rhodes University School of Journalism & Media Studies, the managing director of Digital Commerce, technical director of Bitr8 and a multimedia director at VWV Interactive. At some point during the chaos he also helped found Slip Skateboards (http://slipskateco.com), one of South Africa’s underground skate brands. He writes a food blog (http://onepot.posterous.com), is the games editor for Stuff Magazine (http://stuff.co.za) and produces a weekly techno (dance music) podcast called Beat and Order (http://beatandorder.com).
Community/PR
Simon Dingle (5FM)
Simon helps people and technology get along. You’ll find his articles in Finweek Magazine and Brainstorm. He also hosts a show called (tech)5 on 5FM every Thursday. Simon is a partner in internet broadcasting company Split Infinitive and a director at strategic consulting firm Massive Gap. He’s also writing some books, but doesn’t want to talk about it.
Suzanne Stokes (MWeb)
Suzanne’s early passion for people, online engagement, mIRC and web forums, propelled her to later complete her Bachelor’s degree in the Social Sciences at UCT, with a keen interest in Behavioural Psychology, in preparation for the social media revolution she knew was coming. An interesting mix of roles followed, including interactive event co-ordinator, digital & CRM account manager, whisky master and brand manager as well as social media publicist for award winning South African musician HHP.
Suzanne believes that Social CRM is the foundation of all Social Media Marketing and is the first step for brands entering into the social media space. She is currently positioned as the Brand Manager of Social Media and Social CRM for MWEB and is responsible for all corporate strategic marketing undertaken in the online social environment.
Senior industry
Luke McKend (Google)
Luke Mckend is a marketing, software sales and consulting professional and is currently the Country Manager at Google South Africa. He has worked successfully within start-up and high-growth businesses, and has provided consulting services to SME’s, fostering entrepreneurial behaviour in disadvantaged communities in South Africa.
Renee Silverstone
Renee Silverstone was the CEO and founder of Jupiter. She left this year after 22 years service to the company and has made an invaluable contribution to digital.
She decided after studying English and Drama at Wits that her talents would be better spent in business. So she exited the world of theatre and took centre stage in the boardroom. Her performance was noted and at the age of just 24 she was appointed to the board of Grey Phillips, one of the country’s leading agencies. Over the years she has gained experience on a broad spectrum of clients ranging from FMCG to retail. She jas lectured regularly in advertising and marketing at IMM and Damelin. Renee, who officially opened the doors of The Jupiter Drawing Room for business with Graham Warsop in May 1989, is particularly proud of the fact that after 18 years of constant accolades, The Jupiter Drawing Room in Johannesburg was voted by Deloitte as one of the Top 20 Companies to work for in South Africa for the past three consecutiveyears.
In August 2007 Renee won the coveted accolade of SA’s Businesswoman of the Year in the Entrepreneurial category. In addition Renee was also awarded the Absa Jewish Achiever Award in the Business Achiever Non-Listed Company category.
