DMA Awards commits to 50:50 as WACL President is appointed Chair

The DMA Awards announces the appointment of the 2017 Chair of Judges as Kerry Glazer, President of Women in Advertising and Communications, London (WACL) and Chief Executive at AAR Group. Kerry’s appointment backs the DMA’s ongoing commitment to promote equality across the DMA Awards, which includes teaming up with Creative Equals to reach a 50:50 gender split amongst its judging panel this year.

'The DMA Awards are respected through the marketing industry and I’m excited to be a part of this year’s move to a more gender diverse judging panel' says Kerry 'WACL’s mission is very much about accelerating gender equality via inspiration, support and campaigning. The DMA’s efforts to support and inspire female talent are perfectly aligned. I look forward to a week of rigorous debate and challenging discussions in order to find this year’s victors.'

Each year, the DMA Awards are judged by over 300 industry experts and historically around a quarter to a third of the panel has been female. To achieve greater diversity this year, the DMA called on organisations to ensure nominations recognised talent from across their organisation. This resulted in over 500 applications to be a judge this year, with a split of around 40:60.

In addition to the open applications, the DMA has directly approached leading female figures from around the industry to join the judging list, helping to ensure that this year’s awards will be critiqued by the most diverse groups in their history.

Rachel Aldighieri, MD of the DMA, says 'it’s important that the judges at our awards are as diverse as the world in which we all live and work. That’s why we’ve partnered with Creative Equals as a step towards creating the most inclusive juries in the industry. As a champion and ambassador for equality, we’re greatly honoured to have Kerry as our chair of judges to help us fulfil that aim as well as help us reward the best campaigns of 2017.'

'We want to shape a diverse and inclusive creative world.' says Ali Hanan, chief executive of Creative Equals, 'creative work starts with who shapes it and we believe the same principals apply to judging great work. Equal representation starts on juries, on speaker panels and on awards shows. It’s a small step, but it makes a huge difference and hopefully one that will be replicated across the industry.'

For more information on the 2017 DMA Awards, please visit: https://dma.org.uk/awards