HONG KONG — HSBC's regional head of marketing will serve as the first ever jury chair for the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards, taking place in Singapore on 12 September.

Balaji, who oversees marketing across 14 Asia-Pacific countries for HSBC's retail banking and wealth management units, brings considerable marketing and communications experience to the role, having spent 14 years in various senior roles for the bank across the world.

In conjunction with Holmes Report editor-in-chief Arun Sudhaman, Balaji will oversee a jury that has so far confirmed more than 30 senior executives from across in-house and agency in Asia-Pacific. 

"It’s an honour to be named the first external chair of the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards jury," said Balaji. "We see marketing, communications and digital experience disciplines converging around the world. The onus is on business and brand custodians, both clients and agencies, to deliver customer centric, truly disruptive, game-changing work.  I’m hugely enthusiastic about benchmarking and celebrating the best in engagement, credibility, and relationship building — at a time of accelerated change in this region."

The ninth annual SABRE Awards will again recognize the best in public relations programming from across the Asia-Pacific region and are open to campaigns developed by agencies, corporations, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies and more. The competition is now open for entries, via the dedicated entry platform.

On the in-house front, confirmed judges so far include:

Arnab Roy Choudhury
Global communications lead, business transformations, information & cyber security, group operations
Standard Chartered Bank

Belina Tan
Head of corporate communications, Asia-Pacific
Bloomberg

Colin D'Silva
Head, communications and government affairs, consumer healthcare Asia-Pacific
GSK

Darragh Ooi
SVP, international comms
Go-Jek

Eva Sogbanmu
Executive director, head of communications, Asia-Pacific
JLL

Manisha Seewal
Group CMO
Carro

Marissa Tree
Director, international communications, Asia-Pacific
Zendesk

Priyanka Tanwar
Head of public affairs, Asia-Pacific
LIXIL

Rimmi Harindran
Regional head of communications, healthcare APAC
Merck

Sidhanth Gopishetty Satish
Senior manager, digital marketing & CRM
ToysRUs

Stephen Thomas
Head of group brand & communications
AIA

Su Min Sng   
Head of communications
Grab 

Trevor Hale
GM of global communications
Infiniti

Vaishali Iyer
Head communications & patient advocacy
Novartis India

Meanwhile, from the agency side, confirmed jurors so far include:

Ali Grayeli 
Asia-Pacific ECD
Weber Shandwick 

Andres Vejarano
Regional MD
DeVries Global

Aman Gupta 
Managing partner
SPAG

Cassandra Cheong
MD
BCW

David Ko 
SVP & Asia lead
RFI Asia

Emma Thompson 
Founder & managing partner
Spurwing

Emily Poon
Executive group director, PR & Influence, Social
Ogilvy

Esty Pujadas 
Partner & president
Ketchum APAC, MEA & LatAm

Eveline Wan 
Senior director
SPRG

Jacob Puthenparambil
Partner
Redhill

Jane Morgan
MD
Golin HK

Jerry Zhu
MD
Allison+Partners China

Joseph Barrett 
CEO
Mutant Communications

Kate O'Shea 
Founding partner
AKA Asia

Lars Voedisch
Principal consultant, MD
PRecious Communications

Lee Nugent
EVP & regional director
Archetype

Lynne Anne Davies
President, Asia-Pacific
FleishmanHillard 

Matt Holmes
Co-founder & ECD
Poem

Melinda Po
MD
Edelman Shanghai

Rebecca Wilson
EVP, Singapore & Australia
WE Communications

Richard Arboleda
President and COO
Eon Stakeholder Relations

Samuel Mak
CEO & founder
Madison Communications

Serina Tan
Asia-Pacific MD
Allison+Partners

Tadashi Inokochu
Senior division director
Dentsu

Tom Van Blarcom
Managing director
TQPR

Warren Johnson
CEO & founder
W Communications

Yvonne Koh
GM
Gloo PR

The entry website includes a complete list of categories, entry fee and deadline information (the early deadline is June 21, the late deadline is July 12), as well as tips for crafting a winning entry. The awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Singapore on September 12, following the Asia-Pacific IN2 Innovation Summit on the same day.