Registration for the virtual event, ADCOLOR Everywhere, will go live August 12^th

NEW YORK, July 28, 2020 — ADCOLOR, the premier organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting professionals of color and diversity in the creative industries, today announced the nominees and honorees for the 14^th Annual ADCOLOR Awards. Since 2007, the ADCOLOR Awards have highlighted and honored the achievements of diverse communities in the advertising, marketing, PR, media and entertainment industries. They recognize those who go above and beyond to make a difference and embody the organization’s call to “Rise Up, Reach Back.”

Of note this year, ADCOLOR, in partnership with Adweek, will be honoring the founders of Black Lives Matter with the 2020 Beacon Award. The award honors individuals of note who use their considerable platform to change the status quo in the quest for diversity, equity and inclusion.

“We are honored to present the second-annual Beacon Award to Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the founders of Black Lives Matter,” said Lisa Granatstein, Editor and SVP of Programming at Adweek. “This is truly the year of BLM. We are blown away by how this remarkable group has transcended its early beginnings as a grassroots organization and become one of the most powerful political and cultural movements in U.S. history.”

The African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) and ADCOLOR also teamed up this year to create a new award category: The AAFCA + ADCOLOR Creative to Watch Award. This award honors a creative of color whose career in its early stages demonstrates a vision and commitment to diverse and inclusive stories that reset and disrupt the industry across multiple platforms. The winner of the inaugural award will be announced at a later date.

In addition to the ADCOLOR awards, the organization today announced its 2020 class of ADCOLOR FUTURES. Building on the motto of “Rise Up, Reach Back”, the ADCOLOR FUTURES program identifies and nurtures the next generation of leaders who have one to three years of experience in their industry. The program provides training, mentorship and empowerment to these young professionals with the goal of supporting the talent of tomorrow, today.

The full list of nominees, honorees and FUTURES can be found below.

As previously announced, ADCOLOR’s 2020 event, which includes the ADCOLOR Conference, ADCOLOR FUTURES program and the 14^th Annual ADCOLOR Awards, will be going virtual this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The online event, which is the first in the organization’s history, will be rebranded as ‘ADCOLOR Everywhere’ and held from Tuesday, September 8^th to Thursday, September 10^th.

“While we can’t gather anywhere physically this year, going virtual allows everyone everywhere to be a part of the 2020 event” said Tiffany R. Warren, Founder and President of ADCOLOR. “With ADCOLOR Everywhere, we are reimagining how our industry does online events and aim to provide the same energy and premier experience we typically have in-person. It’s shaping up to be something truly memorable, as is evident from the outstanding list of nominees, honorees and FUTURES announced today.”

The host for this year’s ADCOLOR Conference is TV host and producer, Dana Blair. Blair is one of Hollywood’s most personable on-air talents, having covered everything from pop culture and celebrity interviews with Essence, People and The Recording Academy to social justice pieces for BET. Her one-on-one interviews have included the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Will Packer, Mary J. Blige, Angela Bassett, Denzel Washington, among many other top entertainers and powerhouses.

Aida Rodriguez will then close out ADCOLOR Everywhere as the host of the 14^th Annual ADCOLOR Awards on September 10^th. Rodriguez made history as the first Latina to appear in two comedy specials airing in one month on both HBO and Showtime and is currently developing a half-hour scripted series with Warner Media. She was featured in the film The Comedian and has appeared on Tiffany Haddish’s breakout Netflix series They Ready, Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, TRUtv’s Laff Tracks, Nickelodeon’s Moms’ Night Out and Parental Discretion.
Registration for ADCOLOR Everywhere will open on Wednesday, August 12^th at adcoloreverywhere.virtualeventsite.com. Please follow @adcolor on social media for additional updates and information.

ABOUT ADCOLOR
ADCOLOR® is a not-for-profit 501(c) (6) organization whose mission is to celebrate and champion diversity in the creative industries. Our process is twofold. First, we help individuals and organizations RISE UP, letting their accomplishments and ideas shine. Then we teach these new leaders and would-be-mentors how to REACH BACK and find others who deserve to be noticed and promoted. Our goal is to create a community of diverse professionals who are here to support and uplift one another. Learn more by visiting www.adcolor.org.

ADCOLOR Everywhere Partners
Facebook, Google | YouTube, Omnicom Group, Diageo North America, Disney Advertising Sales, Procter & Gamble, Snap Inc., TikTok, Verizon Media, Apple, Adweek, GSD&M, Citi, Edelman, MSL, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartMedia, Microsoft, 72andSunny, Deutsch LA, Pinterest, Squeaky, Comcast NBCUniversal, Epidemic Sounds, Ferrera, Hill Holiday, McCann NY, Next-door, Omnicom Media Group, Roundel, S4 Capital, LinkedIn

ADCOLOR Corporate Members
72andSunny, The ADVERTISING Club of New York, American Advertising Federation, Deutsch LA, Droga5, Facebook, Hearst Magazines Division, JKR, MSL, Omnicom Group, The One Club for Creativity, Snap Inc., Stephen Kim

2020 ADCOLOR NOMINEES 

The Ad of the Year

• Campaign: “The Look”

Client: Proctor & Gamble

Agency: Saturday Morning

• Campaign: “True Name”

Client: Mastercard

Agency: McCann Worldgroup

• Campaign: “Most Searched”

Client: Google

Agency: Brand Studio

• Campaign: “All for 1”

Client: Nike

Agency: Paper

• Campaign: “1619”

Client: New York Times

Agency: Droga5

Rising Star

• Justin Hutchinson, Partnership Coordinator, ThreeSixtyEight
• Nayantara Dutta, Senior Content Strategist, McCann Worldgroup; Founder, Unapologetically Muslim
• Abu Ngauja, Manager, Talent Experience & Belonging, The Martin Agency

Rockstar

• KR Liu, Head of Brand Accessibility, Google Brand Studio
• Supriya Venkatesan, Director of Content Strategy, Critical Mass
• Chantel George, Account Executive, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

Innovator

• Tamika Newhouse, Founder, AAMBC Inc.
• Kudzi Chikumbu, Director, Creator Community, Tik Tok
• Steph Loffredo, Associate Director, Social Marketing, Huge

Change Agent

• Darla Price, EVP, Executive Account Director, McCann Worldgroup
• Judy Jackson, Global Head of Culture, WPP
• Chanel Cathey, Founder and CEO, CJC Insights LLC

ADCOLOR in Tech

• Andrea Belalcazar, Program Manager, Infra Diversity & Inclusion, Facebook
• Mackenzie Thomas, Product Marketing Manager, Google
• Ty Heath, Global Lead, B2B Institute at LinkedIn

Most Valuable Partnership

• AT&T & 360 Agency
• HBO & The Atlantic
• Google & Creative Theory

2020 ADCOLOR HONOREES

Beacon Award presented by ADWEEK

• Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor, Black Lives Matter
• Alicia Garza, Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter
• Opal Tometi, Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter

Legend Awards

• Soon Mee Kim, EVP, Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader, Porter Novelli
• Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, EVP Entertainment Diversity & Inclusion, West Coast, ViacomCBS
• Alvin Bowles, VP, Global Marketing Partnerships, Facebook

Catalyst Awards

• Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, The Recording Academy
• ColorComm, Inc., Woman of Color in Communications

 
Advocate Awards

• Damon Jones, Chief Communications Officer, Proctor & Gamble
• Don Lemon, Anchor, CNN

Lifetime Achievement Awards

• Renetta McCann, Chief Inclusion Experience Officer, Publicis Groupe
• Warrington Hudlin, Founding President, Black Filmmaker Foundation

ADCOLOR |One Club Creative Awards

• Ivellisse Morales, Founder & CEO, bombilla
• Soham Chatterjee, Senior Creative Copywriter, Leo Burnett

Mr. ADCOLOR

• Bryan Stromer, Founder & Co-Lead, Disability in Marketing, Microsoft

Ms. ADCOLOR

• Deborah Renteria, Manager, Multicultural Marketing, HBO

2020 FUTURES

• Amala Okpala, Partner Manager, Facebook
• Amera-Rime Lulu, Art Director, Red Fuse (VMLY&R)
• Anthony Santa Maria, Senior Associate of Communications and Marketing
• Anthony Williams, Brand Executive, Wieden + Kennedy
• Chanel James, Graphic Designer, EAB
• Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt, Director of Public Relations and Marketing, Black Womxn United
• Chizita Biosah, Search Product Specialist, Google
• Christiana Burnett, Media Planner/Buyer, Bader Rutter
• Clara Lu, Graphic Designer, Zeta Global
• Esther Ladipo, Agency Partner Manager, Facebook
• Folasade Ade-Banjo, Global Product Marketing Manager, Google
• Jeremy Wood, Marketing Coordinator, McGarrah Jessee
• Karlie Thornton, Junior Art Director, Fluent360
• Kevin Ma, Strategist, BBH
• Lauren Nicholson, Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft
• Leneil Roderique, Creative, Vice Media
• Logan Nelson, Marketing Specialist, Truth Initiative
• Madison Li, Marketing Strategy, NBCUniversal
• Meghan Onserio, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google
• Nehemiah Bishop, Partner Manager, Facebook
• Phelicia Ball, Marketing Strategist, Mightily
• Rachita Vasan, Strategist, Leo Burnett
• Sahara Gipson, Content Strategist, Forbes Media
• Shahrazad Hired, Communications Associate, The Wilson Center
• Sonya Bessalel, Assistant Account Executive, GMMB
• Yessenia Downs, Copywriter, FCB Chicago
• Zanah Thirus, Content Producer, Havas Annex
• Zuha Khan, Senior Media Planner, Trilogy Interactive