Campaign Asia-Pacific revealed the winners of its tenth Women Leading Change Awards at a luncheon ceremony held at Singapore's JW Marriott. The shortlist was announced late last month.
Two panel discussions, one on Rewriting Power: How Women Leaders Shape Decisions, Culture and Change, featuring Karen Chan, Linh Nguyen and Merlee Jayme; the other Rising Voices: Navigating Leadership, Challenges and Breakthrough, with panellists from StackAdapt and GumGum, set the tone.
Metals and commendations were handed out across 24 categories.
The event's highest individual honour, Women Leading Change of the Year, went to Merlee Cruz-Jayme, founder of The Misfits Camp in the Philippines. The Misfits is the world's first facility to assess, train and place neurodivergent and deaf creative adults into the industry. She doubled up with the Diversity & Inclusion Champion award.
Deepali Saini of Think Design Collaborative took CEO of the Year, while Anupama Ramaswamy of Havas Creative India was named Creative Captain. Kanako Inomata of Zespri International had arguably the biggest individual night, picking up both Chief Marketer and Game Changer of the Year. Nisha Singhania of Infectious won Entrepreneurship of the Year, and Ignatia Suwarna of DANA claimed Fintech Woman Leader.
Further wins went to Karen Chan of FairPrice Group for Digital Transformational Leader; Linh Nguyen of Ogilvy Group Vietnam for Innovator of the Year; Jacquie Alley of The Media Store for Vision Leader; Deirdre Chew of StackAdapt for Young Business Leader; Rina Yoshida of GumGum for Rising Star; and Rui Ding of SGD Pharma Asia Pacific for Sustainability Leader.
Zespri swept the company honours too, claiming the Grand Prix for Best Workplace for Women. WPP Media Australia won Gold for Best Company for Women; Omnicom Media Taiwan, Gold for Best Employee Engagement. Zespri also picked up the campaign Gold for its social impact work, Bento Box 2.0 - The Missing Verse.
FULL WINNERS LIST
INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY
| Category | Award | Nominee | Company | Market |
Business Leader | Winner | Nicky Wang | We. Red Bridge | China |
| Commendation | Kin Yan, Koyi Wu | Hylink (HK) Digital Solution Co., Limited | Hong Kong SAR | |
CEO of the Year | Winner | Deepali Saini | Think Design Collaborative Pvt. Ltd. | India |
| Commendation | Sze Keed Wong | AIA Singapore | Singapore | |
| Chief Marketer | Winner | Kanako Inomata | Zespri International Limited | Japan |
| Creative Captain | Winner | Anupama Ramaswamy | Havas Creative India | India |
Digital Transformational Leader | Winner | Karen Chan | FairPrice Group | Singapore |
| Commendation | Mikaela Liang | Publicis Media | China | |
| Diversity & Inclusion Champion | Winner | Merlee Cruz-Jayme | The Misfits Camp | Philippines |
Emerging Leader | Winner | Jennifer Tse | Havas Worldwide Hong Kong | Hong Kong SAR |
| Commendation | Mikaela Liang | Publicis Media | China | |
Entrepreneurship of the Year | Winner | Nisha Singhania | Infectious | India |
| Commendation | Kassandra Monzon | Workbean | Philippines | |
| Fintech Woman Leader | Winner | Ignatia Suwarna | DANA | Indonesia |
| Game Changer of the Year | Winner | Kanako Inomata | Zespri International Limited | Japan |
| HR Management Champion | Commendation | Eloise Baker | Atomic 212 | Australia |
| Innovator of the Year | Winner | Linh Nguyen | Ogilvy Group Vietnam | Vietnam |
| Rising Star | Winner | Rina Yoshida | GumGum | Japan |
Sustainability Leader | Winner | Rui Ding | SGD Pharma Asia Pacific | China |
| Commendation | Shirley Wong | Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited | Hong Kong SAR | |
| Vision Leader | Winner | Jacquie Alley | The Media Store | Australia |
| Commendation | Shirley Wong | Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited | Hong Kong SAR | |
| Young Business Leader | Winner | Deirdre Chew | StackAdapt | Singapore |
| Influencer Marketing Pioneer | No Shortlist No Winner |
| Mentor of the Year | No Shortlist No Winner |
| Technology Chief | No Shortlist No Winner |
CAMPAIGN CATEGORY
| Category | Award | Campaign | Company | Market |
Social Impact Marketing Excellence | Gold | Bento Box 2.0 - The Missing Verse | Zespri International Limited | Japan |
| Silver | Stop That Dot Together | Ampersand Advisory | Malaysia |
| ADTech Campaign Excellence | No Shortlist No Winner |
| Best Content Marketing Campaign | No Shortlist No Winner |
| Best ESG-Focused Marketing Campaign | No Shortlist No Winner |
| Category | Award | Company | Market |
| Best Company for Women | Gold | WPP Media | Australia |
| Best Employee Engagement | Gold | Omnicom Media | Taiwan |
Best Learning & Development | Silver | WPP Media | Australia |
| Bronze | Atomic 212 | Australia | |
| Mental Health & Wellbeing Awards of the Year | Silver | Havas APAC | India |
| Category | Award | Nominee | Company | Market |
| Women Leading Change of the Year | Winner | Merlee Cruz-Jayme | The Misfits Camp/ Jayme Headquarters | Philippines |
GRAND PRIX
| Category | Award | Company |
| Best Workplace for Women | Winner | Zespri International Limited |
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
