Almost one in five of the 122 finalists at the 2020 APAC Effie Awards are from Australia.
India had the biggest shortlist count with 23, followed closely by Australia and New Zealand with 22 finalists each.
On the agency network front, the shortlist is led by Ogilvy, with 27 finalists, followed by BBDO with 12 finalists and McCann Worldgroup with 10.
Australian finalists: McCann Melbourne, Edelman Australia, BMF Sydney, CHE Proximity Melbourne, Ogilvy Sydney, The Monkeys, Leo Burnett Sydney, The Brand Agency Perth and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.
New Zealand: Stanley St Auckland, BC&F Dentsu Auckland, DDB Group New Zealand, Colenso BBDO Auckland, krunch.co Auckland
"This is probably the first time a major competition in our industry has been managed virtually, from end-to-end," says Awards Chairman, David Porter said.
"We are all grateful to our diverse group of 190 jurors from 18 territories. They participated in two rounds of judging and completed the process with all the rigour that the Effies is rightly famous for."
The Awards Gala, originally due in May 2020, is replaced by a virtual Awards Ceremony in September 2020.
The full list of finalists HERE.
This year's Heads of Jury: Akira Mitsumasu of Japan Airlines, Anupriya Acharya of Publicis Groupe South Asia, Daniel Barnes of BC&F Dentsu, David Guerrero of BBDO Guerrero, Kainaz Gazder of Procter & Gamble, Melissa Tang of Mindshare Singapore, Rupen Desai of Dole Packaged Foods and Susie Wong of Fuji Xerox Singapore.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.