Cannes Young Lions Competition challenges young creatives from every corner of the marketing and communications industry. If you are 30 years old or younger, the Young Lions Competition is one of the best ways to celebrate your creativity on a global stage.
Young Lions Finland is a local competition, arranged by Marketing Finland, and the winning teams from each competitions will be awarded with a pass to join the international Cannes Young Lions Competition and the Cannes Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France in June 2025.
YOUNG LIONS FINLAND COMPETITION 14.3.–16.3.2025
Schedule 2025
- January 14: Pre-registration opens
- February 20: Young Lions Competitions Masterclass by Cannes Lions at 12:00pm GMT
- In this session you’ll learn how to build confidence, gain professional resilience, and unlock boundless creativity, with a Q&A session at the end. It’s everything you need to prepare you for your local Young Lions Competition and beyond. Learn more and sign up here
- March 13: Pre-registration closes
- March 14: Brief from NGO at 17.00
- The competition time starts at 21.00 (24h or 48h, depending on category)
- March 15: 24h competition dl at 21.00
- March 16: 48h competition dl at 21.00 (if participating in FILM category or in more than one category)
- March 19 – 28: Online judging
- April 2: Shortlist published
- April 7 – 9: Presentations (3 categories)
- April 14 – 15: Closed judging (2 categories)
- April 24: Announcing the winners at the Awards Ceremony
- April 25: Registering for Cannes Young Lions Competitions
- May date tbc: Mentoring Event for Gold Winning Teams
- June 16th – 20th 2025: Young Lions Competitions and Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France
We reserve the right to make changes to timeline, if needed. Participants will be notified of all changes.
Introducing the Steering Group 2025
Competitions 2025
Digital – build a digital-led campaign that uses the powers of digital technology to respond to the challenge in the brief.
Introducing the category sponsor:
- Eligibility: The team entering Digital competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
- Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
- In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.
Film – produce an original maximum. 60-second film ad in response to the brief. Note: just for this Competition, the deadline is 48 hours.
Introducing the category sponsor:
- Eligibility: The team entering Film competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
- Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
- In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.
Media – develop an innovative media strategy based on compelling insights, showing how you’ll use different media channels and encourage engagement in response to the brief.
Introducing the category sponsor:
- Eligibility: The team entering Media competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working for media agencies or specific in-house media departments in agencies.
- Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
- In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.
PR – construct an effective and engaging PR campaign in response to a communications challenge described in the brief.
Introducing the category sponsor:
- Eligibility: The team entering PR competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working for PR agencies or specific in-house PR departments in agencies.
- Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
- In-house PR teams from clients will be accepted to compete in this competition.
Print – create an eye-catching print ad that answers the challenge described in the brief.
Introducing the category sponsors:
- Eligibility: The team entering Print competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
- Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
- In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.
Eligibility
All Young Lions taking part in the Young Lions Finland 2024 competitions must be 30 years of age or younger, born on or after 20 June 1994. You must enter as a team of two. Team members do not have to be employed by the same company. Each person can only enter in one team. Teams can enter once in one or several competitions. Entrants must be full-time working professionals or freelancers within the advertising/marketing/communications industry.
How to enter
Stage 1: Pre-registration open 14.1.–13.3.2025. Pre-register here: https://events.marketingfinland.fi/ylf2025
The briefing events for the 2025 competition will be held online on March 14th.
Stage 2: on March 14th, right after the briefing session, we will open the competition platform, where all information, eligibility, guidelines and entry forms will be available. The competition will be run completely online. The link to the platform will be added here later.
Entry fee 250 € / entry (+vat)
Read the Competition rules here
YOUNG LIONS FINLAND 2024 COMPETITION
The gold winning teams from the Finnish Young Lions competition competed in the international Young Lions competition in Cannes in June 2024. Learn more about the 2024 competition, it’s spesific category briefings & of the winning work from the official Young Lions Competition Report.
See competition entries for the international Cannes Young Lions competitions
See the Young Lions Finland winners and shortlist of 2024
Useful links
Presentation slides of Info Webinar Feb. 1st
Watch the recording of the Info Webinar here
Passcode: nBSUu45+
2024 briefing documents: NGO brief and category briefs
Briefing documents from 2023 competition: NGO brief and category briefs
Links to 2023 work: Winners and shortlisted work / all the other entries
Need for more information?
If you are interested in a nomination for the jury or the steering group or establishing a partnership with our competition, please contact: maarit.aarrekangas (@) marketingfinland.fi, +358 50 435 5613.
