Thoughts from Andrew Spurgeon, ECD at Langland UK who is judging at the inaugural Lions Health awards in Cannes.

Despite its critics, we could all learn a lot from Cannes. The rigorous process does, at times, feel overbearing but you know right from the outset that this show is serious about rewarding only the world’s best creativity.

Last night’s shortlist was reviewed, and the jury was impressively captained by Jeremy Perrott, who has shown great diplomacy and good humour throughout. The work was considered and, in some cases, highlighted for further discussion. A second pass filtered the work again, and so it went on, all day long as we constantly finessed the shortlist dozens of times to recognise only the most outstanding of this year’s work.

Whilst this all sounds very straightforward, what you must know is that every detail of every single shortlisted entry was scrutinised to a degree that I, personally, have not seen at any other healthcare-based award show. This was serious, and we were continually reminded of the statement that the quality of our decisions would ultimately make. Ideas, art direction, copywriting and integration were all discussed at length, with all of these essential aspects of craft needing to be perfectly aligned for the work to progress.

The result, I feel sure, is a body of work that any agency would be proud of. More importantly perhaps, is that this ‘portfolio’ of healthcare work will provide a definitive guide to our clients as to what we as an industry in 2014 believe is great work. If your agency had work on the shortlist this year, you should feel very proud to be part of something that genuinely has the ability to change perceptions of our industry for the better.

Tomorrow will reveal the metal winners. If you’re here, good luck and I’ll see you at the Palais.

Andrew Spurgeon is Executive Creative Director at Langland. He is a jury member on the inaugural Pharma Jury at this year’s Lions Health.