Young Lions Teams Chosen To Represent The U.S. At Cannes Lions 2012 Worldwide Competitions

MCLEAN, Va., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY, official U.S. representative to the International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, announced today the winners of the 2012 Young Lions "Team USA" competitions.  Through this annual competition USA TODAY helps to identify emerging American creative talent and celebrate them on a global stage.

"It's always exciting to see the results of the Young Lions competitions. As the official U.S. representative, we are proud to support the American talent that will go on to the International Festival of Creativity in Cannes," said Sandra Micek, senior vice president of marketing for USA TODAY. "It's really rewarding to see such innovative work across all of the categories. We look forward to the Festival and watching the U.S. team compete against their global peers."

2012 Young Lions categories and "Team USA" winners are:

• Cyber:   Justin Berg and Alice Shin, SapientNitro
• Film:      Maxwell Riesberg and David Solorzano, CNCNTRTE
• Media:   Peter Pelberg and Erin Hauswirth, OMD
• Print:     Gong Liu, DOJO and Suzanna Yeranosyan, Rubin Postaer and Associates

All competitors worked from the same brief and were asked to build awareness for First Book, a non-profit organization with a simple yet powerful mission to provide new books and educational resources to children in need. The 2012 "Team USA" competition included teams from agencies across the U.S. with 383 teams registering and 236 total entries. To view the winning work, go to younglions.usatoday.com.

The four teams have been chosen to represent the U.S. and compete in the Young Lions competitions during the International Festival of Creativity in Cannes with all expenses paid. Forty international teams will compete in the Film, Print and Cyber competitions. Thirty teams will compete in Media.

Sponsors for the 2012 competition are: Digitas for Cyber; Pereira & O'Dell for Film; and Starcom Mediavest Group for Media; and USA TODAY for Print.

The 2012 Cyber category was judged by: Liz Boone, Federated Media Publishing; Jim Hord, JWT New York; Seneca Mudd, IAB; Rob Rizzo, Digitas; and Tiffany Rolfe, CP+B.

The 2012 Film category was judged by: Jerome Austria, Deutsch LA; Daryl McCullough, Citizen Paine; Pelle Nilsson, B-Reel; Jaime Robinson, Pereira & O'Dell; and Glen Sheehan, GSD&M.

The 2012 Media category was judged by: Andrew Altersohn, Havas Digital North America; Shane Ankeney, Initiative; Brian Elwarner, Starcom Mediavest Group; Guy Forester-Walker, MPG; Trevor Guthrie, OMD, Ignition Factory; Matt Kasindorf, Universal McCann; Lynn Lewis-Pinkus, UMJ3; John Lisko, Saatchi & Saatchi; Brent Lux, Spark; Steve Minichini, Targetcast; and Brent Poer, LiquidThread.

The 2012 Print category was judged by: Chris Beresford-Hill, BBDO NY; Graeme Hall, Young & Rubicam; Will Payovich, Euro RSCG Chicago; Marc Sobier, Young & Rubicam New York; and Taras Wayner, RGA NY.

USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of nearly 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.4 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than ten million downloads on mobile devices.  The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education, the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and the USA TODAY Travel Media Group. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

SOURCE USA TODAY

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