YOUNG LIONS OPENS REGISTRATION, ADDS COMMUNITY AND YEAR-ROUND DEVELOPMENT - ScreenVoice.cz

This year marks the seventeenth year of the Young Lions competition and development program, adding a community focused on developing and connecting young communications professionals throughout the year.

Young Lions is a creative competition and training program for young communications professionals up to and including age 30 that accelerates their development and careers. Winners receive an award and the right to represent the Czech Republic at the world competition in Cannes. The competition itself takes place from 14 to 24 March, and it also brings several innovations.

The competition is open to participants from all types of agencies, freelancers and employees of client organisations. The competition is open to teams of two, who have 24 hours to create a campaign proposal for a nonprofit organization, a general idea or a CSR program, and then present it in five minutes of English to a panel of expert judges who select the winner and provide feedback to each participant. The competition is run in a hybrid format in five categories - Media, Digital, PR, Print and Marketers. On Briefing Day and Awards & Networking Night, participants meet in person, with competition presentations and feedback from the judges taking place virtually on Zoom.

Over the previous 16 years, 1044 teams have been through the competition and for many, participation and success in Young Lions has made a significant impact on their careers. Some of the stories are revealed in the Shine Bright Like and Star podcast series, which is available for free on all podcast platforms, including a video version on YouTube.

New communities and lectures from judges

Brand new is the launch of a community for contestants. "Creating a community that concentrates the most talented people in the industry and gives them the opportunity to enrich each other, connect and grow together makes tremendous sense to me and I see this as another important contribution Young Lions is making to the development of talent in our industry. Plus, connecting people from agencies with marketers from client organizations is beneficial in any situation," says René Jez, Young Lions director and founder of the organizing company Lionhearted, adding "The only way to become a member is to compete in Young Lions." In the future we are planning activities for a wider audience."

The Young Lions community will operate on a virtual community platform and will connect competitors from all categories. It will allow them to meet not only virtually but also in person, with several Connections meetings planned throughout the year. It will also open up a space for peer-to-peer learning.

In addition, a special series of approximately twenty lectures from the competition judges, called the Excellence Track, will be created for the community. "This year we are selecting judges for the competition with the stipulation that they prepare one "thing" for our competitors during the year, the format is up to them and the content is up to agreement. It can be a lecture, a workshop, a masterclass or something else entirely. Our brief is simple - you think the thing is important to people in the industry and it fills you up to share it," adds Jez. Most of the talks will be live, some will be virtual.

Hero & Outlaw will send out delegate passports to PR winners

Thanks to the category's new lead partner PR, Hero & Outlaw, the category winners will receive delegate passes to the Cannes Lions Festival entitling them to participate in the global Young Lions competition. In other categories, a new mechanism will be applied to help winners fund their passports. The amount of the contribution will be based on the number of teams competing in the category. The competition organizer will donate the registration fees of the 21st and each additional team entered.

In addition to the partnership with Hero & Outlaw, the competition also announced a partnership with ASCOPA (Strategic Communications and Public Relations Association, formerly PR Club) regarding talent development in the PR industry. Other possible partnerships and collaborations are under discussion. "After the end of our long-standing partnership with WPP and Group M, which we valued tremendously, this year opens up new possibilities and opportunities for collaboration throughout the year. I am confident that we will forge other similarly great partnerships," says Jez.

Supporting Events

In preparation for the competition, Young Lions is offering preparatory activities such as a February 4 virtual Warmup Q&A Meeting for all those interested in either competing themselves or sending their colleagues to get answers to everything they want to know about the competition, the community and year-round development, and February 4. March, the traditional Warmup Workshop "From Good to Great" for registered contestants to get practical advice for contest success.

For all medalists, there will be a two-day Winners Camp development program focused on developing their ability to create communication solutions and personal excellence. This year it will take place on 16 and 17 May and unlike last year, it will be held live in Prague at Vedle.space agency Visibility.

Applications for the competition close on Friday February 28. To participate, you must meet the age requirements (born after June 20, 1994), have a good command of the English language and form a team of two. Registration takes place directly on the competition's official website www.younglions.cz. The organiser is Lionhearted, the Cannes Lions representative for the Czech Republic.

The general partners are TV Nova and Visibility agency. The PR category is announced in cooperation with ASCOPA and its Main Partner is the agency Hero & Outlaw.