40 Under 40 2021: Now open for nominations

NOTICE: Nominations for the 2021 40 Under 40 have now closed. Thank you to all who nominated. Judging is now underway, with anticipated publication in early November.

Campaign Asia-Pacific is delighted to open nominations for the 2021 edition of 40 Under 40.

Every year since 2013, Campaign Asia-Pacific's 40 Under 40 has highlighted and celebrated the achievements of up-and-coming leaders in marketing, media and communications in the Asia-Pacific region. By focusing on people who are already making a mark—and are on the cusp of making an even bigger impact—we've spotlighted many people who have indeed gone on to bigger and more impressive things. If you don't believe us, just peruse the people highlighted in the past 40 Under 40 classes listed below.

See all of our past 40 Under 40 lists: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

What we're looking for

We are looking for people who have inspirational stories. People who can rightly boast about undeniable business achievements. People who are passionate about helping to drive the industry forward—not just in terms of business success but also in terms of the welfare of the people working in the industry, in terms of making the industry welcoming to people currently exlcuded from it, and in terms of making their communities and the world better places. Successful nominees will have proven successes in the past 12 months, a strong trajectory in their own careers, an ability to lead others to perform and an ability to inspire.

Does that sound like you, or someone you know? We invite you to put forward yourself, or up to two people from your own regional agency network or company.

Process

Nominations will be submitted using the simple online nomination form.

The deadlines are as follows:

• Early-bird deadline: Friday, September 24
• Regular deadline: Friday, October 1
• Late-entry deadline: Friday October 8 
• Extended late-entry deadline: Friday October 15
• On all deadline dates, entries will be accepted until 23:59 SG/HK (GMT+8)

The entry fee—US$395 for early birds, US$445 up until the regular deadline, and US$465 for late entries—includes a one-year membership with Campaign Asia-Pacific, which can be assigned to the nominee, the nominator or another person. You can find more details about the benefits of membership here and direct any questions about membership here.

Once nominations have closed, Campaign Asia-Pacific's senior editorial team will carefully read, analyse and discuss (and discuss and discuss) every entry to select the 40 nominees we believe are the most impressive and deserving of this commendation. Those selected as the most exceptional rising stars will be honoured with in-depth profiles, which will be featured in Campaign Asia-Pacific and shared across all our channels. Publication is slated for early November. 

Eligibility details

To be considered, nominees:

• Must be based in Asia-Pacific.
• Must be holding a job in an industry directly related to advertising and marketing. This means that in addition to a brand or agency, the nominee can work for a media company, a technology firm, a startup, an event company—so long as their role relates to marketing, advertising and/or communications.
• Must have been aged 39 or under through August 31, 2021 (inclusive). This translates to a birth date of September 1, 1981, or later.

Important notes:

• You may nominate up to two people from your company or agency per market that your company operates in. To be clear, this means that if you are with a company that has multiple brands/agencies, you can nominate up to two people per brand/agency per market.  
• While we will consider candidates who have appeared in 40 Under 40 before, or in other Campaign Asia-Pacific listings, such as Women to Watch and the Asia-Pacific Power List, we do ask that candidates wait until 2022 if they have already been featured in any of these lists within the last 12 months. If, however, the candidate will no longer meet the age requirements in a year’s time, we will consider the nomination this year. 

Nomination details

The nomination form will ask you to provide: 

• Basic details about yourself and the nominee.
• The answers to four critical questions about the nominee.
• Testimonials from colleagues and clients (optional)
• A recent high-resolution photo of the nominee (at least 1200x800 pixels at 72 dpi).
• Credit-card payment of the entry fee, which is US$395 for each candidate during the early-bird period (through September 24), US$445 for the regular deadline period (September 25 though October 1) and US$465 for late entries (from October 2 through October 8October 15).
• Address and contact details for the person who will receive the Campaign Asia-Pacific membership.

Important note: Once you begin filling in the nomination form, you cannot save your work and return to the form later. We highly recommend you prepare your answers before going to fill out the nomination form. Please use this nomination template (Word format) to help you prepare the information you will need, and then copy and paste everything into the nomination form all at once.

Following completion of the nomination, our membership manager will follow up with you to arrange the Campaign Asia-Pacific membership.

What makes a good entry? 

• The entry will show us that the person nominated is clearly indispensable to the company they work for. We will understand specifically what they have done to make them a crucial player in their team and/or the wider business. Metrics and business results you can provide as evidence are important here. 
• The entry will make it clear that the candidate goes above and beyond the demands of their job description, both in terms of their own company's business and in the wider sense of helping to take the industry forward in a positive way. 
• The entry will show us that the nominee is an inspiring person to work with, however this manifests itself. We should get the strong feeling that we'd want to work with these people if we could.
• Testimonials from colleagues, and especially from third parties, from all stages of the nominee's career, will be looked upon favourably.
• We appreciate entries that are well-written and concise, with clearly laid-out information and specific, concrete examples of achievements by the nominee.

For more discussion of what makes a good entry, this video, prepared for last year's nomination process, has good advice that it is still valid (except for the dates mentioned in the video).

Confidential information

You may flag confidential information in your nomination by putting it into [square brackets]. We ask that you only flag the specific information that must be kept confidential, rather than the whole entry or large parts of it, since we will rely on this information to compile a meaningful profile of any nominee that makes the list. 

A note on conduct

Campaign Asia-Pacific reserves the right to disqualify or withdraw an entry, award or recognition at its absolute discretion and without refund if an entry provides information that is incorrect or in cases of substantiated misconduct or reputational damage.

Good luck!

Once again, here's the preparation document and the nomination form.

Questions? Send them to [email protected] and we’ll help as soon as we can.

See all of our past 40 Under 40 lists: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013