And they’re off.

At press time, Strategy was in the process of shipping the submissions for the 10th annual Agency of the Year competition to our panel of industry judges. They’ll be subjecting the work to the usual merciless scrutiny, and sending us their scores over the course of the next two weeks.

This year’s roster of judges includes members from agencies and client companies across Canada and the U.S.

The agency panelists are, in alphabetical order: Doug Adkins, creative director at Hunt Adkins in Minneapolis, Minn.; Charles Blackwell, creative partner and president with Push in Calgary; Isabelle Cardinal, creative director at LG2 in Montreal; Lisa Francilia, creative director at Bryant, Fulton & Shee in Vancouver; Elspeth Lynn, partner and co-creative director of Zig in Toronto; Brad Riddoch, principal of Riddochdickinson in Toronto; and John Vitro, partner with VitroRobertson in San Diego.

The client judges are: Michael Beckerman, vice-president of marketing with MVP.com in Chicago; JoAnne Caza, manager of marketing and public relations with Toronto-based Mercedes-Benz Canada; Mark Childs, vice-president of marketing with Toronto-based Kellogg Canada; Mario D’Amico, vice-president of marketing with Cirque du Soleil in Montreal; Patrick Gedge, managing director of Travel Alberta; and Danielle Sauvage, director of communications with the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.

Strategy has invited nine agencies to take part in this year’s competition: Ammirati Puris; BBDO Canada; Bensimon*Byrne D’Arcy; Gee, Jeffery & Partners Advertising; Holmes & Lee; MacLaren McCann; Ogilvy & Mather; Palmer Jarvis DDB; and TAXI Advertising & Design.