324 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH September 2013 DOI: 10.2501/JAR-53-3-324-338 INTRODUCTION Advertising awards are widely perceived by members of the advertising industry as indicators of advertisement performance and are coveted as trophies of creativity (Helgesen, 1994; John, 2011). As such, advertising-award shows are major venues that provide a gathering of leading peers deemed to represent the collective wisdom of the advertising industry. Yet a look at the literature indicates that little research has addressed the aspects considered by judges in bestowing awards at top advertising creativity award shows for the industry. Similarly, little is known about the characteristics and prac- tice of how advertising-award shows are designed to ensure that the winner is appropriately chosen. Award shows provide researchers of creativity with the opportunity to study and evaluate the practice and approaches of leading practitioners together with the norms of creative behavior that they apply. Although studies of individuals or specific advertising agencies can yield significant insights about creativity, award shows recognize the creativity of top copywriters, artists, and man- agers as voted for by their peers (Pratt, 2006). As such, award shows are able to provide a macro-snapshot of how these top professionals judge awards for creativity. Though micro- judgments within agencies inevitably reflect the deeper knowledge and strategic insights about the task and problems faced by clients, macro- judgments at award shows offer an opportunity to isolate the purely creative elements. Previous studies of advertising-award shows have focused on the impact that winning awards has on •฀ advertising agencies’ performance (Cook, 1999; Helgesen, 1994; Polonsky and Waller, 1995; Tip- pins and Kunkel, 2006); •฀ clients (Till and Baack, 2005); •฀ consumers’ perception of creative advertise- ments (Kover, Goldberg, and James, 1995; Kover, Goldberg, James, and Sonner, 1997). There is no research, however, that has investigated how judges adjudicate creativity at award shows. A better understanding of the elements considered during adjudication at advertising creativity award shows can be useful for both researchers and par- ticipants. Researchers can better understand the elements considered when creativity awards are made, and participants can gain useful insights for more effective participation. DOUGLAS WEST King’s฀College฀London douglas.west@kcl.ac.uk ALBERT CARUANA University฀of฀Malta/ University฀of฀Bologna albert.caruana@ um.edu.mt KANNIKA LEELAPANYALERT Birkbeck,฀University฀of฀ London k.leelapanyaler t@ bbk.ac.uk What Makes Win, Place, or Show? Judging Creativity in Advertising at Award Shows Judging฀adver tising฀creativity฀at฀award฀shows฀is฀poorly฀understood.฀This฀research฀ assessed฀what฀constitutes฀adver tising฀creativity;฀examined฀the฀benefts฀and฀ consequences฀of฀adver tising-award฀shows;฀and฀investigated฀how฀judges฀bestow฀ creativity฀awards.฀The฀research฀was฀conducted฀with฀elite฀advertising-award฀show฀ organizers฀allowing฀the฀investigation฀of฀various฀characteristics฀that฀included:฀the฀role฀of฀ judges;฀the฀composition฀of฀panels;฀the฀selection฀criteria฀adopted;฀the฀judging฀process;฀ and฀the฀time฀line฀used.฀Decisions฀about฀what฀is฀or฀is฀not฀creative฀are฀dependent฀upon฀ the฀adjudicating฀panel฀while฀heuristics฀were฀found฀to฀dominate฀the฀entire฀process.฀ Limitations฀and฀future฀research฀are฀indicated.