The Handy Awards wants the male-centric ad industry to get a grip of itself
For those in the ad industry wanting to blow their own trumpet, there's a new award in town celebrating your creative juices.
Lending creatives a hand to get their name out there is the Handy Awards. As the exact opposite of a Cannes Lions award, any adman can earn some glory whether they’re in the privacy of their own office or Netflix and chilling at home.
Referencing what they call the self-serving nature of some awards, the Handys encourages creatives to give themselves a reward. The industry's finest can take their shot at glory on the Handys' mobile website, where visitors are tasked with shaking their phones as vigorously as possible to receive a hallowed Handy.
A statement for the awards read: "Advertising is full of award shows that only people in advertising care about, with juries comprised of industry professionals who have entered and are judging their own work. Some might call this self-serving. We could think of a few other terms to describe it.
"It’s pretty clear award shows have gotten out of hand, so we wanted to take the piss out of them. But the Handys also signify how male-dominated advertising is. The fact that only three per cent of creative directors are women should be a wake-up call to everyone in the industry.
“Is the whole thing a bit crass? Sure. But lest we forget, we’re in a service industry. This stunt makes a salient point for us to spend more time focusing on our clients’ needs and less time servicing ourselves.”