D&AD and Cannes Lions have announced their current plans in light of COVID-19. They are:
D&AD:
“D&AD Awards and Festival will be going ahead as planned.
“D&AD would like to assure our community that, despite the inevitable disruption caused by the COVID-19 virus, our intention remains that both the Awards and Festival will be going ahead as planned, from May 19-21, in London. In the event that our overseas judges are unable to travel to London for judging, we are putting in place plans for alternative judging methods that will ensure that the integrity of the judging process is protected and that all entries will continue to be given the attention and scrutiny that our community has come to expect from D&AD.
“The safety and wellbeing of our staff, speakers, judges and attendees is our main priority. In the lead up to the event, we will continue to closely monitor the situation around the development of the COVID-19 virus, following guidelines from the UK Government and the World Health Organisation.
“Please contact the Awards team if you require further guidance or advice.”
Cannes Lions:
“The Festival is still scheduled to take place, as planned, from 22-26 June in Cannes, France. We continue to monitor the situation closely and follow all guidance from health and government officials. We remain fully committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of our customers, employees, sponsors and partners.
“The Festival, working closely with the Mayoral office of Cannes and the French Authorities, has secured alternative dates of 26-30 October 2020, if changing circumstances require us to postpone the event from June. If we do make that decision, we will announce to our customers no later than 15 April 2020, sharing weekly updates ahead of any announcement date.
“Irrespective of the timing of the Festival, we want to reassure the global creative community that we are fully committed to awarding Lions in 2020: all entries will still be judged and awarded by our global juries. As things stand, anyone who is submitting a Lions entry for 2020 should follow the existing process and timeline. If anything about that process changes, we will issue a further announcement.
“Simon Cook, managing director, Cannes Lions, stated, ‘As we stand today, all of our plans are proceeding as scheduled and we are still working towards Cannes Lions 2020 taking place as planned on 22 June. However, as the global situation is evolving constantly, we want to be open about our contingency plans. We have consulted with our customers and partners and have prepared accordingly by putting measures in place to allow flexibility, should we need it. As always, the safety of all those involved is our utmost priority, and any decision we take will reflect this’.”
