The Creative Guild of the Philippines unveils new categories, new rules, a new date, as well as a new logo and a new tagline for the Kidlat Awards. But everyone can rest easy; the one thing that hasn’t changed is the venue. Kidlat stays on the shores of Boracay.
Guild President David Guerrero announced that after much deliberation, the event is now slated for April 12 to 14, 2010.
For the first time, three special awards will be added: TV Ad of the Decade, Radio Ad of the Decade and Print Ad of the Decade. Work that was aired from January 2000 to December 2009 will be eligible. Rules governing these categories will be released later.
Aside from new rules, the members of the jury will also be announced in January, but Guerrero intimated that "some big names [are] lined up."
The new logo and tagline, "Pure Creativity", now sets it apart from the other big awards show in the country, the Araw. Unlike the biennial Araw, which has been skewed towards creativity and marketing effectiveness, the annual Kidlat continues to be judged on the merits of creativity alone.
Another major change is the Young Creatives competition.
In previous years, the shootout determined the representatives to the Young Lotus in ADFEST, which is held in March in Thailand, and to the Young Lions in June in Cannes. However, without its perennial sponsor Philippine Daily Inquirer, the challenge of raising funds for the Young Lions caused organizers to seriously mull a change of venue. It was further compounded by news that the Cannes Lions organizers had offered the Philippines not one, but two slots in the Young Lions competition.
The cost of sending a pair of creatives to Cannes is estimated at PhP500,000, so the thought of entering two teams is daunting indeed.
For now, Guerrero said that the representatives for ADFEST will be chosen in a separate competiton, to be held in Manila, while the two winning teams in Boracay will go on to Cannes.
