USA TODAY Announces Start of Young Lions 'Team USA' Competition

USA TODAY Announces Start of Young Lions 'Team USA' Competition

MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY, official U.S. representative to the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, announces the kickoff of the 2009 Young Lions "Team USA" competitions. The 2009 Young Lions consists of the following four competitions: Cyber, Film (TV), Media and Print.

Four teams will be chosen to represent the U.S. and compete in the Young Lions competitions during the International Advertising Festival in Cannes. Twenty international teams will compete in the Film and Media competition. Thirty teams will compete in Cyber and Print.

Teams for the three creative competitions (Cyber, Film and Print) will consist of an art director and a copywriter. The team for the Media competition will consist of two media planning executives. All team members must be 28 years or younger (born after June 27, 1980); be an American citizen; and be an art director, copywriter, media planner, media buyer or media strategist. Teammates do not have to work at the same agency. Those at the assistant level are not eligible.

The 2009 Young Lions "Team USA" competitions will be limited to a total of 800 teams; comprised of 300 media teams, 300 print teams, 100 cyber teams and 100 film teams. Teams will be accepted in the order they register, starting on February 5, 2009. Teams may register online at medialounge.usatoday.com. Registration will close when these maximums have been reached or on February 25 at 5:30 p.m. EST, whichever occurs first. A project brief detailing each competition will be sent to registered teams on Friday, February 27. The deadline for completed work will be Tuesday, March 10. Judging will take place in late March and the winners will be announced no later than April 10.

Each winning team will be sent, all expenses paid, to compete as "Team USA" in the Young Lions program at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes. Festival dates are June 21 to June 27. Sponsors for the "Team USA" program include Atmosphere BBDO for Cyber; Pereira & O'Dell for Film; USA TODAY for Media. Special thanks to Creativity and Getty Images as well as the 2008 Cyber "Team USA", Chris Bailey, Ferro Boyd and Ted Wahlberg, who developed the 2009 promotional campaign in collaboration with Bagby & Co. and Bridges in Chicago.

USA TODAY is the nation's top-selling newspaper. It is published via satellite at 34 locations in the USA and at four sites abroad. With a total average daily circulation of 2.3 million, USA TODAY is available worldwide. USA TODAY is published by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI). The USA TODAY brand also includes: USATODAY.com, an award-winning news and information Web site that is updated 24 hours per day; USA TODAY Sports Weekly, a magazine for enthusiasts of college and professional football and baseball; USA TODAY Mobile, offering up-to-the minute news and information on a variety of mobile platforms and devices; and USA TODAY LIVE, the television arm of the USA TODAY brand that brings the spirit and quality of the newspaper to television.

Source: USA TODAY

CONTACT: Heidi Zimmerman, Director/Communications, +1-703-854-5304,
hzimmerman@usatoday.com, or Alexandra Nicholson, Manager/Communications,
+1-703-854-5872, anicholson@usatoday.com, both of USA TODAY

Web Site: http://www.medialounge.usatoday.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/

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