Industry awards call on the expertise of Solent course leader

The Internationally renowned Epica Awards stand alone in the creative industries as the only global competition where the judging panel consists exclusively of experienced and respected international journalists.

Trade press representatives from well-known publications such as Adweek, Ad Age, Digiday, and Campaign provide comprehensive evaluations across all categories. In addition, the jury is enriched by expert jurors from mainstream titles such as ELLE, National Geographic and this year from Solent’s very own Carbon Magazine.

Judges are selected to lend their specialised expertise to the award voting which begins at the end of October when judges will review hundreds of creative works and select the very best. Category winners will be awarded gold, silver and bronze and receive an Epica crystal pyramid. Four Grand Prix’s are awarded to the best overall film, press, outdoor and digital entries, selected from all the category winners. The agency and network with the most awards are given the Agency of the Year and Network of the Year trophies.

The Epica Awards are open to all communications agencies, film production companies, media consultancies, digital agencies, PR specialists, photographers and design studios worldwide. Only work that has been approved by clients and used, published or broadcast since 1 July of the previous year is eligible to enter.

Rachel, who has been a course leader at Solent for more than 20 years and is currently running the BA (Hons) Fashion and Beauty Media degree, as well as two postgraduate courses in fashion, is an award-winning journalist and editor with more than 30 years experience in her field. She has won numerous accolades for her work including Press Gazette’s Journalist and Feature Writer of the Year and has used those skills to establish Carbon Magazine at the University, a media brand offering undergraduates an opportunity to build a portfolio of work to help get their foot on the media and fashion industry ladder.

Rachel says, “I am delighted to have been selected to be a juror at this year’s Epica Awards. The appointment is a real honour, and I am excited to view the amazing work. Opportunities for creative agencies to have their work reviewed and evaluated by an expert community are rare so this global competition allows small creators and producers the chance to raise their profile and have their work seen by an international audience. This is such an amazing opportunity, and it has led to some exciting opportunities for past winners.”

This year’s competition highlights include the inclusion of a new AI craft category and, as an industry first, the trial of a new AI juror which will give its opinion on this year’s entries.

Nicolas Huvé, operations director for Epica, says, “Rachel has been on our radar as an expert member of the press. From press or outdoor adverts, films, PR operations all the way to technical feats or artificial intelligence innovations, the biggest communication agencies and design or production houses need an objective eye to ascertain what makes good creativity and we thank her very much for her involvement.”