Midsummer History

The idea for The Midsummer Awards sprang from a late night conversation on the terrace of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes in the summer of 1983. Here, a group of ex-pat English creatives were bemoaning the fact that international festival juries were unfailingly stuffed with powerful guest clients, agency chairmen and other irrelevancies. They vowed to launch a festival where the jury was 100 per cent working creatives. People who faced a creative brief daily and knew of the challenges faced. The Midsummer Awards was launched in London a year later. And every member of every jury since has been a working copywriter or art director.