AWARD show fails to recruit Asians for judging panel

<p>SYDNEY: Despite its ambition to become one of the top pan-Asian </p><p>creative award shows, this year's Australasian Writers and Art Directors </p><p>Club (AWARD) awards will not have any judges from Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Three Asian judges had been invited, but all failed to take up the </p><p>offer, citing work commitments, according to Rowan Dean, chairman of </p><p>AWARD. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Dean said AWARD members vote on who will be on the judging panel and the </p><p>"jury tends to reflect the membership; where the membership is strongest </p><p>is where the jurors are from, which is Australia and New Zealand". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The organisation has 540 members, 30 from Asia, including 22 from </p><p>Singapore and four from Hong Kong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The AWARD show has also experienced a decline in entries from Asia. </p><p>Entries from Singapore fell from 560 in 1997 to 160 this year, while </p><p>entries from Hong Kong dropped from 85 to 22 over the same period. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This has prompted AWARD to investigate how it can change the selection </p><p>process next year to ensure there are more judges from Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The intention is to have more Asian judges and ideally we want to have </p><p>a proper proportional representation," said Dean, who visited Singapore </p><p>recently to raise awareness of the organisation and boost </p><p>membership. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>AWARD is hoping to win over the 63 creatives from Asia who are eligible </p><p>to become members because their work reached the finalist stage at </p><p>previous AWARD shows. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It also wants Singapore to establish an AWARD School, a training course </p><p>for young creatives. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>