Contract CEO Ravi Deshpande on 2009 YoungGuns jury

Ravi Deshpande, chairperson and chief creative officer, Contract Advertising has been invited to join the jury at the 2009 YoungGuns Awards in Sydney. He is the only Indian on the jury.

The YoungGuns are open to creative professionals and students who are under the age of 30 years. The nine-year-old awards platform celebrates work emerging from around the world. The focus is not necessarily on work for big brands or with huge budgets, but on ideas.

This is the first time Deshpande has been invited to join the jury at YoungGuns. Deshpande has judged other international awards earlier, including Cannes, D&AD, One Show and Clio.

Besides Deshpande, the advertising jury at YoungGuns this year includes: Tony Granger, global chief creative officer, Y&R USA; Amir Kassei, chief creative officer, DDB Group Germany; Tay Guan Hin, creative director, South-East Asia, JWT Singapore; Michael Spirkovski, founder and creative director, Cassius Clay Australia; Eric Kallman, copywriter, Wieden+Kennedy UK; Craig Allen, art director, Wieden+Kennedy UK; Lisa Fedyszyn, senior creative, Colenso BBDO Auckland; and Dave Bowman, creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi Australia.