The London International Awards, or LIA (formerly known as London International Advertising Awards, LIAA), is one of the world's leading award shows that honor creativity in the advertising and brand communications space.  Held and judged in Las Vegas annually in October, it also hosts Creative LIAisons; a free-to-attend, by-invitation-only global coaching initiative to develop, educate, inspire, and nurture emerging global talent currently working in the industry.  The selected guests are granted access to some of the most experienced thought leaders working in the advertising industry and beyond. 

A woman-owned company, LIA is one of five global shows included in the WARC Creative 100 Rankings.

History 
The International Awards, founded in the United Kingdom in 1986 by President Barbara Levy, began by celebrating advertising in the realms of cinema, television, print, outdoor and radio, evolving since its inception into 27 unique media types: Ambient & Activation, Billboard, Branded Content & Entertainment, Creativity in Business-to-Business, Creative Use of Data, Creativity in the Metaverse, Creativity in PR, Design, Digital, Evolution, Health & Wellness, Health & Wellness – Craft, Integration, Music & Sound, Music Video, Non-Traditional, Online Film, Package Design, Pharma & Medical, Pharma & Medical – Craft, Poster, Print, Production & Post-Production, Radio & Audio, Social Media & Influencers, Television/Cinema, and Transformative Business Impact.

It was the first international advertising award of its kind to acknowledge all media and methods from around the world to be judged by a diverse global jury.

In 2004, the word "Advertising" was removed from the competition's name to reflect the fact that it observes more than just "advertising" in an ever-changing industry.

In 2009, LIA, along with Faris Yakob, author of Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World and co-founder of Genius/Steals, developed "The NEW," for works that demonstrate concepts that don't fit comfortably among the standard media divisions, with a focus in fields of technology. In 2021, The NEW was renamed Evolution.

In 2014, LIA added Branded Entertainment as a medium. The judging category, first chaired by Jimmy Smith of Amusement Park Entertainment, awards "creativity and the power of the idea across films, television programming, live events, audio, gaming and music videos that engage consumers by entertaining them, rather than through traditional advertising." The Branded Entertainment competition became Branded Content & Entertainment in 2023.

2017 included the additions of a Health & Pharma competition in response to a "large number of requests from creatives"; a Social Media & Influencers medium "based on Creativity and Engagement", and the LIA Chinese Creativity Show featuring a unique red statue and executed through a first round of judging in China and a final judging session simultaneous with the annual LIA Judging. (See: Judging). The Health & Pharma competition has since changed to 'Health & Wellness' and 'Pharma & Medical' with additional craft categories for each.

2019 saw the introduction of Podcasts as a medium.  LIA was also added to the WARC Creative 100 Rankings, successor to the Gunn 100, which tracks the performance of campaigns, brands and agencies in advertising creativity competitions around the world. The rankings are a benchmark for creative excellence, allowing marketers to compare their performance with their peers. As of 2023, Podcasts is no longer a separate competition and is part of the Radio & Audio category.

For the first time in its history, LIA cancelled the 2020 Awards season due to the global COVID-19 Pandemic.

The 2021 Awards Festival saw the addition of a Creative Use of Data competition and Transformative Business Impact competition. The NEW was renamed to Evolution to better reflect the values of the category.

2021 also saw the company appoint Terry Savage, former Chairman of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, as Chairman of LIA.

The 2022 Awards Festival introduced the Creativity in PR competition and the Creativity in the Metaverse competition.

The 2023 Awards Festival saw the addition of a Creativity in Business-to-Business competition.

2023 also saw the addition of two new awards: Holding Company of the Year and Created for Creatives: LIA Legend Award - given to a leader of the industry, past or current, advancing the industry through outstanding creativity and mentorship skills.

LIA has one main office in New York City.

Judging 

As of 2023, the seventeen LIA Jury panels, each one headed by a Jury President, are composed of nearly 190 experienced members of agencies, production companies, design houses, and technology companies. These panels decide on the Gold, Silver and Bronze Statue Winners as well as the finalists.  Each Jury is given the non-compulsory opportunity to award a Grand LIA to a piece of work that has achieved a Gold statue.

The Public Service/Social Awareness Grand LIA was created in 2019, following the same rules as the original Grand LIA, but only offered to all Gold Public Service winners. This was altered in subsequent years, and as of 2023, each Jury has the discretion to award a Grand LIA and a Public Service/Charity/NGO Grand LIA where applicable.

The judging process is unique in that each Juror sees every piece of work entered within the category (or categories) that he or she is required to judge. It is also required that all jurors are on site for judging from the first round through statue discussions; this ensures that all jurors see every piece of work.  LIA has no quotas for winners, and every juror is fully aware of all winners when judging is completed.

LIA is the only awards show that allows the press and young creatives full access to the jury rooms during judging, including statue discussions. This allows for complete transparency in LIA results.

Judging is held annually in Las Vegas over a 7-to-10-day period in late September/early October.

Awards 

In 1985, LIA commissioned a British art student, Mary Griffiths, to design the LIA statue. The 17" LIA statue is a winged figure that is hand cast in metal prior to a gold, silver, bronze, black (for Grand LIA winners), red (Chinese Creativity Festival) or Blue (for Regional Winners) plating. It stands on a custom black nickel finished base with an engraved plate displaying the year, medium, category, client/brand and the recipient's name and location.

For 26 years, LIA held its one-night awards ceremony in London.  For the first time in 2010, the same year as the Awards' 25th Anniversary, LIA awarded global Network of the Year, Agency of the Year, and Production Company of the Year designations. Subsequently, in 2011, LIA added Post-Production Company of the Year,  Design Company of the Year, Independent Agency of the Year, Music & Sound Company of the Year and Radio & Audio Company of the Year  have also been recognized in recent years. 2018 saw Health & Pharma Network of the Year, Health Agency of the Year, and Pharma Agency of the Year, followed by Client of the Year in 2019 and Independent Network of the Year, Independent Health Agency of the Year, Independent Pharma Agency of the Year and Independent Health & Pharma Network of the Year in 2021.

In 2011, LIA gave a one-off award sponsored by JetBlue to filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, dubbed "The Greatest Award Ever Sold" for its analysis of product placement and the inner workings of the ad industry.

In 2012, it was decided to allocate the budget for the ceremony in favor of bringing a small group of young International Creatives from around the world together to share their experiences and to discuss the future of advertising, design, production, brand-building and the overall state of the creative global markets. (See: Creative LIAisons)

In 2017, LIA added Regional 'Of the Year' Awards to Australia / New Zealand; Asia; Europe; North America; the Middle East / Africa; South America as additional components of its global 'Of the Year' honours.

2022 saw In-House ‘Of the Year' Awards for Regional and Global.

2023 introduces the Created for Creatives LIA Legend and Holding Company of the Year Awards.

In past years, LIA has published a hardbound, full-color Annual showcasing all of the winners and finalists from that given year.

Creative LIAisons 
In 2012, as a way of giving back to the industry, LIA launched an educational initiative called 'Creative Conversations'.  The inaugural program consisted of approximately 60 young creatives representing the next generation of talent who were able to have roundtable discussions with: Susan Credle, Israel Diaz, Sonal Dabral, Tony Calcao, Jeremy Craigen, Faris Yakob, Neil French, Dörte Spengler-Ahrens, Jonathon Ker, Ralph van Dijk, and Scott Elias, among others.

In 2015, the program was renamed Creative LIAisons and was rebranded by Napath Omathikul of Leo Burnett. The event consists of panel discussions, interactive workshops, seminars that are not only industry centric, but also touch on topics that are relevant to today's culture and lifestyle, brand building and future worldwide trends. All expenses for travel and hotel accommodations are fully funded by LIA.

As Creative LIAisons runs concurrently with LIA Judging, attendees receive one-on-one mentoring from many of the LIA jurors. LIA is the only show that allows these attendees unlimited access to the jury and the invaluable experience to sit in on statue discussions as they occur in real time.

LIA does not directly select the attendees. Instead, LIA allocates seats to industry associations, media partners and companies that support the awards festival through entries, as a way to nurture, educate and honor young creative stars, in addition to regional competitions and self-nomination. Since 2012, over 700 creatives have had the opportunity to participate in the program.

Some luminaries in their respective fields that have presented at Creative LIAisons are: Matt Eastwood, Global Chief Creative Officer, McCann; Bob Isherwood, former Worldwide Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi; Mark Tutssel, former Leo Burnett Executive Chairman; Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Global; Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide Network; Doerte Spengler-Ahrens, CCO, Jung von Matt/SAGA; Piyush Pandey, Chief Creative Officer Worldwide and Executive Chairman India, Ogilvy; Rob Belgiovane, former Group CCO, BWM Dentsu; Diane Jackson, Chief Production Officer, DDB; Pum Lefebure, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Design Army; Matt MacDonald, Executive Creative Director, BBDO; Ralph van Dijk, Founder of Eardrum Australia; Taras Wayner, Chief Creative Officer, North America, Wunderman Thompson; Jeremy Craigen, former Chief Creative Officer, Innocean Worldwide; Lara Logan; previous Keynote Speaker Daymond John; and many more.

The following are past featured panels:

 Branded - Content vs. Entertainment? Featuring: Raphael Aflalo, Mel Clements, Jesse Coulter, Lizie Gower, Jonathon Ker, Jimmy Smith
 The Audio Boom Featuring: Tom Eymundson, Jill Kershaw, Ralph van Dijk
 Verbal Identity - What Is It? Featuring: Rachel Bernard, Sean Doyle, Steve Martin, Chris West, Ben Zimmer 
 A Women's Journey Featuring Susan Credle, Laura Gregory, Karen Howe, Merlee Jayme, Rosie Yakob
 Where is all the Branded Entertainment? Featuring: Sonal Dabral, Kerstin Emhoff, Perry Fair, Dennis Lueck, John McKelvey, Jimmy Smith

The following are past featured workshops:

 6-Second Workshop by Great Guns
 InnerVation Lab presented by the Shark Group featuring Daymond John
 Rare Access sponsored by Sweetshop and Google

In 2021, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Creative LIAisons morphed into a series of global virtual one-to-one coaching and networking sessions for young creatives. The program resumed in-person sessions running concurrently with LIA judging in 2022. 2023 sees the Creative LIAisons 'Global Coaching Academy' continue with in-person and virtual sessions consisting of approximately 120 mentees in Las Vegas and 170 virtual mentees.

References

External links 
 

International awards
Advertising awards
Communication design
Awards established in 1986
1986 establishments in England
Arts awards in the United Kingdom