• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 13, 2021

Cannes Lions has confirmed that the 2021 annual awards shows will take place in person in Cannes, France, during the third week of June.

Like many other events in the past year, the Cannes Lions 2020 festival was converted to a virtual event given the pandemic. The awards portion was postponed.

The organization said the juries this year will be on site in Cannes and judging work for the past two years and awarding Lions for 2020 and 2021.

"For more than 65 years, Cannes Lions has set the benchmark for great creative work, sand after the disappointment of postponing the 2020 Lions awards, we look forward to presenting the work to the Juries in June,” said Lions Managing Director Simon Cook."

This year’s festival is now open for registration, although the group cautioned there may restrictions on attendance.  

"While travel is currently constrained, the availability of multiple vaccines offers hope that we can be together in June, even if we need to limit the numbers of delegates who can safely attend," said Lions Chairman Phillip Thomas. 

"We will continue to carefully monitor the situation, and maintain our regular communications with the authorities in France. But there are many other large international events planned for the same timeline, and it's clear from talking to the global industry that everybody is very keen to come together again.”

As part of the Festival in June, Cannes Lions will continue to have a digital element.