The 4A's creative committee chairman, Marc Lucas, said: "The jury will be asked to be ruthless. They'll be told not to give awards for the sake of giving awards. We don't want pity votes. If they don't think that a piece of work should be in an annual, then they shouldn't vote for it."
Lucas - who is leaving his post as D'Arcy Hong Kong executive creative director in the wake of the global realignment of the Mars business - said Hong Kong's competitive edge lay in it becoming a centre of creative excellence.
"We cannot compete on price, especially against China. Hong Kong can do it better, but we must be very critical of our work and get an international perspective."
The judges include Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' Steve Simpson, who was this year's Clio jury chairman; Kash Sree of Leo Burnett, Chicago; David Alberts of Mojo Partners Australia; Jim Thornton of Mother in London; Calvin Soh of Fallon Asia-Pacific; Ricardo de Carvalho of Velocity Films South Africa; Christine Pong of Market Catalyst and Stanley Wong of Threetwoone, Hong Kong.
