The shortlist for the 2020 Media Week Awards has been announced, including four special categories to recognise work during the Covid-19 crisis.
The leading media owners are ITV and Channel 4, with 16 and 14 nominations respectively.
The two broadcasters also feature on the six-strong shortlist for Sales Team of the Year, alongside Mail Metro Media, Reach Solutions, Spotify and Twitter.
OMD UK is the most shortlisted media agency with 14 nominations, followed by Manning Gottlieb OMD with 12 and Goodstuff Communications and Zenith with 11 each.
All four agencies are vying for the Media Agency of the Year accolade against two other contenders, PHD and UM.
The companies competing for the two top prizes – Sales Team of the Year and Media Agency of the Year – will give live presentations over Zoom.
All of the judging is taking place remotely because of the need for social distancing.
Kate Waters, director of client strategy and planning at ITV, and Matt Adams, global managing director at Brainlabs, are the co-chairs of judges for the awards, which cover the period between July 2019 and June 2020.
The judges will take the impact of the crisis into account when assessing Sales Team of the Year and Media Agency of the Year, with a focus on all aspects of business performance between July 2019 and February 2020 and on work, people, collaboration and resilience between March and June 2020.
Gideon Spanier, UK editor-in-chief at Campaign, said: “It is testament to the continued importance of the Media Week Awards that more than 50 agencies, media owners and other companies have chosen to enter this year despite the Covid-19 crisis and the sudden economic downturn.
“These are uniquely challenging and difficult times for everyone working in UK commercial media, so there is all the more reason to recognise and reward the great work, invention, collaboration and resilience that are the hallmarks of this industry.”
More than 80 judges from across the UK media industry will decide the winners.
For the first time, Campaign has invited all of the winners of the Media Week 30 Under 30 contest from earlier this year to take part in the judging of the Media Week Awards to encourage the input of younger talent.
The shortlist for one category, Media Leader of the Year, will be announced in September.
The winners will be revealed in October in a virtual ceremony on 14 and 15 October.
To see the full shortlist, go to mediaweekawards.co.uk.
This article was originally published by Campaign.