shots Awards The Americas 2026 head judges: first five announced
With the awards now open, we reveal the first pack of head judges for shots Awards The Americas 2026.
)
The end of 2025 is so close we can almost touch it, but at shots we're already looking ahead to 2026 and the first of our three annual shots Awards events.
And, with that in mind, we can today announce the first set of head judges for next year's shots Awards The Americas, an event during which the best work from North America, South America, and Canada battle it out for trophies in a variety of craft-focussed categories.
As is always the case, we have a collection of supremely talented people whose creative and technical knowledge puts them at the top of their advertising game and who will be overseeing juries of equally impressive people. The first list of this year's head judges is below, and we will be announcing second set early next year.
But, of course, you have to be in it to win it, and you can currently take advantage of an early bird entry discount, applicable until January 8th 2026, to get your campaigns entered.
Above [clockwise from top left]: Shawn Lacy, Fuliane Petikyan, Joanna Manning, Amado Stachenfeld and Diego de la Maza.
The first five head judges for the 2026 shots Awards The Americas are:
- Cinematography: Amado Stachenfeld, Cinematographer
- Direction: Shawn Lacy, Founding Partner, Biscuit Filmworks
- Editing: Joanna Manning, MD & Sr. Executive Producer, Whitehouse Post
- Music Video: Fuliane Petikyan, Managing Partner & Executive Producer, Fela
- New Director: Diego de la Maza, Chief Production Officer, Omnicom Production
The full juries for each of the categories will be announced soon, and the shots Awards The Americas 2026 ceremony will be taking place on April 23rd 2026 at the Avalon in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.
The shots team will also be putting together another day of insight and creative exploration for shots Out of the Box, which will be happening on April 22nd at the Bike Shed in Downtown. More details will be announced in the New Year, but you can read about last month's London event here.
