Vietnam Young Lions 2016 Final Result Announcement

With the mission to elevate the standards of the Marketing – Communications industry in Vietnam, AIM Academy – the organizer of this year Vietnam Young Lions – has always strived to provide the best opportunities for local creative professionals to grow from international exposure. One of such opportunities is the Vietnam Young Lions competition, where young professionals can improve their skills and showcase their talents to obtain a chance of representing Vietnam at the prestigious Young Lions competition in Cannes.

Following the announcement of the competition results in the Awards Night, it has come to the attention of the organizer that there has been a dispute over the final outcome. The organizer has investigated and found out that one of the winning teams did not adhere to the rules and guidelines of the competition.

After prudent discussion of the Film category Jury board, the Gold Lions title in Film category would be withdrawn from the team TOOTHPICKER, due to the fact that the team did not fully abide to the rules and guidelines of the competition. During the organizer’s discussion with the jury and the involved parties, it has come to light that the team has utilized the help from another party to export the video file before submission, which has contradicted with one of the submission guidelines.

Ms. Masako Okamura, Executive Creative Director of Dentsu Vietnam and Jury Chairwoman for Film Category, asserted “After extensive discussion and careful consideration, we found it imperative to withdraw the title from the team. The guidelines are delivered to ensure fairness for all contestants. At international competitions such as Cannes Lions, the work should be judged purely on creativity, but only when the integrity could be guaranteed. It is the jury’s responsibility not only to select the most competent creative team but also to guarantee the competition’s fairness and transparency.”

Mr. Terry Savage – Chairman of Lions Festivals – also said that “Throughout the years, the Young Lions competition at Cannes Lions has become a true platform for every talented and creative young professionals from all over the world to go head-to-head with one another for the titles of Young Lions champion. Hence, to support the freedom of young creatives, we as organizer would constantly strive to give contestants the best conditions to work within 24 hours or 48 hours by putting trust in each team’s self-respect and dignity. We also call for every contestant’s voluntary actions to produce the work independently on their own.”

Ms. Pham Thi Dieu Anh, Managing Director of AIM Academy, stated “As the organizer, we fully adhere to the guidelines from the global Young Lions competition including the organization of the competition and judging process. This year 2016 marks the return of Vietnam Young Lions and the competition has gained remarkable attention from the whole Marketing – Communications industry with more than 100 registered teams. We appreciate all the participants’ eagerness and devotion to this competition. Yet, we are regretful that the excitement might have overwhelmed some of the contestants and they unintentionally overlooked the strict guidelines, leading to this unfortunate event. However, we hope that the current and future contestants would take this case as a valuable learning experience and continue to keep up your thirst for creativity. On top of all, let’s all stay focused on the meaningful purpose of the competition: to raise the bar for the standards of Vietnam’s creativity industry. We look forward to your impressive return for the future years to come!”

This announcement means that the Silver Lions team: XUXU will replace as the representative of Vietnam in the competition at Young Lions 2016 competition in France.

The final list is as follow:

Film Category winners	Marketers Category winners
Gold Lions: no Gold Lions	Gold Lions: Défi
Silver Lions: XUXU	Silver Lions: TAK’IZZY
Bronze Lions: INSHINE	Bronze Lions: The Foodie Duo