MUMBAI: Some festivals bring sun and sand. Goafest brings Grand Prix-winning creatives with awards baggage heavier than beach coolers.

This year’s Abby Awards 2025 powered by One Show just pulled off a creative coup—roping in two of the ad world’s finest to chair its international jury.

Grab your pens (or Apple Pencils): Björn Ståhl and Youri Guerassimov are headed to Goa, and the briefs better be brilliant.

Announced on 15 April 2025, the 56 edition of the Abby Awards will see Uncommon Creative Studio, Stockholm CCO Ståhl chairing the Still Print category, while Marcel Paris CCO & CEO Guerassimov will preside over the Integrated category. With a combined award count that would make Don Draper blush, these two titans bring enough creative firepower to light up an entire awards season.

Ståhl has racked up over 250 awards, including a Titanium and Grand Prix at Cannes and not one but two Black Pencils. Having spent 31 years in the business—19 of them at INGO where he turned the agency into one of Fast Company’s most innovative companies—Ståhl is now leading the creative charge at Uncommon Stockholm since January 2024. And yes, he’s judged Cannes and D&AD thrice each, because once clearly wasn’t enough.

On the other side of Europe’s brilliance map sits Guerassimov—arguably one of France’s most decorated creatives of this generation. With 2 Cannes Lions Grand Prix, 3 D&AD Black Pencils, a One Show Green Pencil, and over 40 Cannes Lions under his belt, Youri’s trophy shelf is basically a hazard zone. His career began at CLM/BBDO in 2004, and alongside his long-time partner Gaetan du Peloux, he has created campaign gold for local and global brands alike.

Entries for the Abbys are now open, featuring 24 Media categories and 23 Creative ones. Among the new additions this year are ‘Small Budget Big Impact’, ‘Sports Marketing’, and ‘Micro Marketing’ under the media section. It’s the kind of lineup that gives underdogs, outliers and niche geniuses a shot at gold—and maybe a selfie with the jury chairs.

For details on how to submit, obsessively check www.Abbyawards.com.

The awards will take place on 21–23 May 2025, at the plush Taj Cidade de Goa Heritage and Horizon during Goafest—South Asia’s largest celebration of advertising, creativity, and beachside bragging rights. The festival is jointly hosted by The Advertising Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India. If you haven’t booked your flight yet, now’s your cue.

With this level of global creative clout on board, Abby Awards 2025 isn’t just levelling up—it’s playing in the big leagues with Cannes-calibre judges and south Asian swagger.

Let the best ideas win (and the weak ones sweat).