LIA 2026: Award the work for its entertainment value, not just the idea behind it

Seventeen hours from Mumbai to Vegas didn’t prepare me for London International Awards. What did was the last decade and a half of work and people I’ve admired, learnt from and tried to emulate. Sharing a room with all of them was an honour.

It was my first time on the LIA jury, and on two categories being thought and re-thought from scratch: a revamped Entertainment & Content, and the inaugural Cultural Catalyst. I knew that judging these two categories would get personal, opinionated and extremely brutal – where we’d dissect the best work in the world and create benchmarks for the next year – a full-blown responsibility. 

So of course, like the other award shows, I expected this one to be a bit competitive. But LIA disarms you. It welcomes you into its home with open arms.  It literally feels like you’re sitting on a couch at a family gathering: talking over each other, disagreeing loudly, laughing, getting emotional about things that move them. It’s rare to find a room of creative minds given the time and space to do that together. Our jury president set the tone by handing us hand-made friendship bands. Geoff Edwards had said that whatever happens int he room, we should remember that we’re friends and over the five days, we represent this group. That’s exactly what happened after 5 days of judging together. We came as individuals, and left as friends you’d call family.

Adding to the flavour was the category we were judging. The revamped Entertainment and Content category needed us to take our advertising hats off. The hope was that next year we’d see Will.iam, Bad Bunny or Beyoncé on the jury.

So the idea was that – award the work for its entertainment value – not just the idea behind it. We went beyond the case study and watched every single piece of content and even took a hard call to relegate work which didn’t enter the actual piece. A tough call to make when you see such great ideas – but a message to deliver for the future. It was a reminder that our roles with brands are changing, and the audience will reward and share pieces that are not only worth their time but move them with emotion.

So it was no surprise that the Grand LIA, AlmapBBDO’s “The Walk to the Walk of Fame” for Johnnie Walker, became our benchmark. It tells the story of Paulinho da Costa, the percussionist behind thousands of songs you know and a name you probably don’t, and it plays like a story you’d seek out with or without a brand attached. Over an hour and a half that goes by very quickly, you learn about the man, where his music comes from, the power of his music and his homecoming after years of living away to make his dream a reality. It makes you laugh, cry and leaves you inspired – the perfect mix for what entertainment should do. 

For Culture Catalyst, we weren’t judging against a set definition; we were building one as we watched. It wasn’t enough to have work which appropriated culture or rode on a moment, but a big part of the category was the word ‘catalyst’. So, the question was: has this idea created an inflection point in a way where it has moved a needle in conversation or becoming something iconic that holds its own place in culture? The shortlists also provided the meat of the kind of work we expect to see in the coming years in this category. 

But the major reason for LIA being such a fertile space for the creative mind has to be the inclusion of young creatives through the Creative LIAsons program. Young talents from across the world get an opportunity to observe, spend time with people they’d otherwise never have access to, and even cross-question the jury about a lot of their decisions. Their energy changes the vibe of the whole place. And of course, demands decorum when they’re in it. 

It’s a reminder of why we do what we do. The impact of every decision we make in that jury room becomes what we study, emulate and be inspired to beat in the future.

The author is executive creative director – innovation, Leo India. Manifest is the India partner for LIA.