The Irish Audio Awards selects its juries with insight and guidance from the Institute of Creative Advertising and Design, alongside some of the best, most highly respected, and consistently awarded creatives in the industry. Drawing from this experience, the Irish Audio Awards assembles juries who are qualified to assess, recognise and award the most exceptional work. The juries are assembled with a varied set of experience in mind and are equipped to evaluate work fairly and effectively.
Each year, the jury comprises four creatives; two practising outside Ireland, one Irish jury chair, and one audio craft specialist. The juries are empowered to award to the best of their ability, and as such, the Irish Audio Awards have no access whilst they deliberate. Similarly, The Irish Audio Awards is not privy to decision making rationale and have no input into the results. You can see who comprised this year's jury below, and click here to find out more about the entry process.
Mark Shanley, Creative Director
adam&eveDDB
Mark often finds his middle-of-the-road dad rock interrupted by bad advertising. So he’s excited to listen to some good advertising when he judges the Irish Audio Awards. Mark is Executive Creative Director at adam&eveDDB in London. He has made lots of ads and won lots of awards for brands like Nike, Pot Noodle, The V&A Museum, John Lewis, Amazon, McDonald’s, TK Maxx and many many more.
Caroline Riis, Senior Creative
TRY Oslo
Caroline's creative journey commenced at Wieden + Kennedy, where five years of crafting campaigns for Nike, Arla, and Finlandia in London and New York laid her foundation. Relocating to Norway after a seven-year London stint, she ascended to Partner and Creative at TRY, Norway's premier agency. Collaborating with diverse brands from IKEA to DNB and the Red Cross, her work resonates with authentic insights, aiming to influence positive behavioral change. Beyond viral videos, Caroline measures success by tangible societal impact, like empowering women to outnumber men as new fund customers. Recognized as one of Norway's most decorated female creatives, her accolades include consecutive lion wins in 2022, 2023 and 2024 for her transformative work with IKEA.
Steve Babaeko, CEO / Chief Creative Officer
X3M Ideas
Steve is an unusual type of businessman. In an industry that seemed to have run out of inspirational stories, he stepped in and wrote a new chapter. Now, his X3M Ideas Group, which he founded in 2012, has become the yardstick for a new generation of Nigerian creative entrepreneurs.
Steve’s unyielding belief in looking challenges in the eye and staring them down has attracted the best talents to his firm and pulled in clients from around the world. This has led to setting up of offices in South-Central Africa, via Lusaka and Johannesburg, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom, where he recently opened independent offices for X3M Ideas.
Before starting X3M Group, which has now grown to include X3M Music, Media 100 and Zero Degrees Productions, Mr. Babaeko was the creative director at 141 Worldwide. Over there, he sparked the fire of creativity that made that agency the trendiest for many years.
Steve began his advertising career at Mc&A Saatchi & Saatchi and later moved to Prima Garnet Ogilvy. For more than 23 years, he has been helping to create some of the most iconic marketing works on the continent. You might remember the “Proudly Nigerian” campaign for British American Tobacco, the “Now You’re Talking” campaign for Etisalat, “You Need A New Bank” campaign for Diamond Bank and so many others.
He continues to represent Africa on the global stage, having been a member of the jury at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, New York Advertising Festival, the Loeries, African Cristal Awards, D&AD Awards, Pitcher Awards Festival and AD Stars, Global Juror - ANDY Awards. He has also been a speaker at the Cannes Lions Festival, Nigeria & West Africa’s First Cannes Lions Award winner and also one of Adweek’s Top 100 Creatives in the world, 2019. He was also conferred with the “Visiting Fellow” honours at the Henley Business School, University of Reading.
Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the esteemed Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. He is currently the President of The International Advertising Association (I.A.A), Nigeria Chapter and Immediate Past President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). Outside advertising, he was the former Chairman, Public Relations Committee of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.
Steve has attended several international Leadership trainings, including some in Harvard Business School, Columbia University, New York and Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Denis Kilty, Music Composer + Sound Designer
denis.
Denis Kilty (denis.) is a multi-award-winning Music Composer + Sound Designer from Dublin. Beginning his career in 2015 with his first commercial, he quickly gained a name for his signature rich, emotive sound, driven by the idea that great audio is at the heart of great storytelling.
denis. has since composed music + sound design for over 250 award-winning campaigns heard by millions around the globe. His clients include Apple, Rolex, Nike, Under Armour, Guinness and WhatsApp.