• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 17, 2022

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that a total of 25,464 entries from 87 countries were submitted for consideration this year.

That’s about 5,000 fewer than were submitted in 2019 before COVID wreaked havoc with, well, everything.

Total entries in fact have been declining steadily for years. In 2018 the total was 32,372, a decline from 2017’s 41,170 and 2016’s 43,101.

For years the Festival did its best to get bigger totals year in and year out. More entries equaled more entry fees.

But a few years back the holding companies got fed up with the increasing costs and had discussions with the Festival organizers about cutting costs.

That resulted in a shorter festival and the elimination of some award categories.

But while some categories were eliminated, others were introduced, like this year’s Creative B2B Lions which received 415 entries.

Other relatively newer awards have also seen an uptick in entries, like the Creative Effectiveness Lions, with 258 entries from 30 countries, up 83% from a year ago.  Entries into the Creative Commerce Lions are up 11%.

Entries from LATAM are up 12% year over year which is led by a strong increase from Brazil, up 31%. There have also been 402 entries from Ukraine which have been accepted free of charge.  

Shortlists for the Innovation Lions, Titanium Lions and Glass: The Lion for Change have already been released here. The remaining 26 shortlists will be released starting June 19.