The Loeries (The Loerie Awards Company NPC) is a non-profit company administering awards for the brand communications industry, in Africa and the Middle East.

History

The Loerie Awards first took place in 1978 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Television was introduced to South Africa relatively late in 1976, and the delay was due to the political belief at the time that television was "undesirable". Once television had finally been introduced, the first television commercials commenced in 1978, and consequently, the Loerie Awards were introduced in the same year to promote the new medium of television advertising. Since 1978, new categories were regularly added and today the awards include not only traditional advertising, but recognise virtually every touch-point between a brand and the consumer - including architecture, design, digital media, live events, sponsorship, as well as integrated campaigns. In 2004, the Loeries were almost "consigned to the scrap heap." Until then, the awards were managed by the Marketing Federation of South Africa, but they were rescued by the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) South Africa and the Creative Circle South Africa who formed a new non-profit company to run the awards. After the inaugural awards in

in 1978, the awards were held for many years at Sun City until 2004. In 2005 the Loeries moved to

Margate, KwaZulu-Natal Margate is a coastal resort town in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province, about 20 kilometres southwest of Port Shepstone. The river which flows into the sea at Margate is called "Nkhongweni" ''(place of entreaty)'' as the original inhabitants of the area ...

, then to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 2009, and in 2015 the awards will be hosted for the first time in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, KwaZulu-Natal. Preetesh Sewraj has been the Chief Executive Officer since 2005 and Sibusiso Sitole is the current Chairperson.

Creative Week

It has been estimated that Loeries Creative Week is worth ZAR100 million (approximately US$10 million). Creative Week is a week long festival that begins with the judging of all the work. Over 160 judges from across the region as well as international jury chairmen assess the work. Finalists are announced every day and judging is concluded with a recently introduced "Seminar of Creativity." The winning work is announced on the Saturday and Sunday evenings at the end of the week.

References

{{reflist South African awards Advertising awards