“No Matter What People Tell You,
Ideas And Words Can Change The World.”

Those words were spoken by the late, great comedian Robin Williams. History has proven time and time again that advertising ideas have played a major role is shaping or reshaping society. By leveraging the power of the media, public opinion and support, many issues have been brought to the attention of the world.

Take for example women’s right to vote. The suffrage movement in the 19th and early 20th century used advertising - pamphlets, posters, and newspaper ads - to advocate, and win the right for women to vote.

Today, data shows that 89.6% of the world live with limited human freedom.

For 2026, LIA has developed the category DEMOCRACY and HUMAN RIGHTS with support from the European Parliament. This category recognizes work that promotes free expression, fair representation, accountability and essential freedoms that allow democracy to thrive and human rights to be protected.  Entries must demonstrate how creativity was a deciding factor in advancing these principles and driving meaningful impact at a local, national, continental or global level.  This category is not to promote political candidates or parties.

Several of the judges on the Democracy and Human Rights Jury have experienced the devastating cost of being denied the dignity of basic human rights or have personally championed that those rights be promoted, protected and become a reality.

Anthony Chelvanathan
Democracy and Human Rights Jury President

Global Creative Partner and CCO Edelman Canada,
Edelman 

“I’m incredibly honored to chair its first jury, a role that feels especially meaningful given my own background fleeing conflict.” 

As Edelman’s first-ever Global Creative Partner and Chief Creative Officer (Canada), Anthony drives creative innovation and strategic direction across more than 60 offices in lockstep with Judy John, the agency’s Global CCO.

Diane Foley
President & Founder
James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, Portsmouth, NH

Diane M. Foley is President and Founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which she created in September 2014 less than a month after the public beheading by ISIS in Syria, of her son, James W. Foley, an American freelance conflict journalist.

In 2015, she led JWFLF efforts to fund the start of Hostage US and the International Alliance for a Culture of Safety, ACOS. She actively participated in the National Counterterrorism Center hostage review which culminated in the Presidential Policy Directive-30. This directive created the current US hostage enterprise consisting of an interagency Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and a White House Hostage Response Group to free innocent Americans taken hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. JWFLF was instrumental in the passage of the Robert Levinson Hostage Taking and Accountability Act.

Rob Galluzzo
CEO / Founder
FINCH, Sydney 

Rob is the Executive Producer and CEO of FINCH, one of the leading production companies in Australia and New Zealand. He is also co-founder of 36 months, which led a national campaign to raise the minimum age of social media from 13 to 16 — the first law of its kind anywhere in the world. Rob recently returned from New York where 36 Months presented at the United Nations General Assembly alongside Australian PM Anthony Albanese.

"When the creative community turns its talents towards strengthening democratic participation, freedom  and rule of law, it can and will inspire conversations beyond our normal audience." - Christian Mangold, Director of Communications of the European Parliament.

3 Weeks Left To Enter LIA 2026

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