Spike Lee receives the first Creative Maker of the Year award from Cannes Lions

In conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the International Festival of Creativity, Cannes Lions has unveiled the first honorary Creative Maker of the Year award. At the Festival, legendary director, screenwriter, actor, and producer Spike Lee will receive the first prize. 

The first Lion was developed when the Festival was formed in 1954 to honor top-tier advertising creativity in TV and film. This prize, which was established seventy years ago, honors that tradition while also recognizing a diverse group of makers who will continue to make ideas come to life in the future. 

"We know that world-class creative work takes so much to deliver," stated Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS. Cannes Lions has always been about the creators and the creatives who break down barriers to realize their ideas. In the future, this award will recognize creative creators from any discipline who serve as role models for our whole community. It seems fitting that a director receives the inaugural Creative Maker award in our 70th year. It is an enormous honor to hand this award in person at the Festival to Spike Lee, one of the most important people in modern culture and film. As a creator who works hard to tell imaginative stories and demonstrate to the public what they can only see in their thoughts, Spike exemplifies the spirit of this award.

The honor, sponsored by Black At Cannes, is given to Spike Lee, a multiple Lion Award winner whose body of work has left an enduring impression on the film, television, and creative industries. Additionally, as the creator of Spike DDB, his own creative firm, his goal has been to assist brands in changing the world by keeping up with culture. 

On Friday, June 23, from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., in addition to accepting the honor, Spike Lee will participate in a keynote fireside talk on the Festival stage with director and filmmaker Barry Alexander Brown.  Spike Lee, a director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, commented on receiving the award in the following way: "I'm honored to accept the inaugural Cannes Lions Creative Maker of the Year award for my contributions to the advertising industry, but a reminder: "We keep having these obstacles, these hurdles, we have to face and we have to keep knocking them down." I still believe what I said in 1997.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Lee has received five Oscar® nominations for his work on the films Do the Right Thing, 4 Little Girls, and the critically acclaimed blockbuster BlacKkKlansman, which he also co-wrote and directed and went on to win the Oscar® for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2018. For his career achievements and contributions to the state of the arts and sciences of motion pictures, he was also given an Honorary Oscar® in 2015.

Lee is particularly well-known for his illustrious TV advertisements and marketing campaigns for the Jordan Brand featuring Michael Jordan. Shannon Watkins, Chief Marketing Officer of Jordan Brand, commented on the honor and Spike's reputation as a globally famous creative creator, saying: "Spike's concentration on telling stories, paired with his ability to capture the pulse of Black Culture, sets him apart from others in the business. Spike helped to forge the essence of what Jordan Brand stands for and produced legendary memories. We might not be able to jump as high as Michael Jordan thanks to our shoes, but for a split second, we might sense his assurance and self-belief.

Spike Lee is a creative role model who has opened the path for a lot of black creatives, according to Peter O. Ukhurebor, founder of Black At Cannes. The Creative Maker of the Year award motivates us to keep paving the road for diverse perspectives and advancing equity and inclusion in the global creative sector. We salute the collaboration.