Cannes Lions Names Smith Media Person of the Year

The accolade recognises his role in transforming VICE from a print magazine into an international multimedia brand

Cannes Lions has named Founder and Chief Executive Office of VICE, Shane Smith, its 2016 Media Person of the Year. The accolade recognises his role in transforming the company from a print magazine into an international multimedia brand which operates a network of critically-acclaimed digital channels.

Additionally, the group has developed into a stable comprised of linear television networks, a mobile content studio, feature film division, and an in-house creative services agency. Introduced in 1999, the aforementioned award exists to recognise innovators who have shaped the future of the industry.

Most recently, Smith struck deals with leading platforms across mobile, digital, and linear to syndicate the marque’s award-winning video to viewers everywhere. Meanwhile, he is a highly decorated journalist as well as host and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning news series, VICE, on HBO.

He has reported from the world’s most isolated and difficult places, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia, and Greenland. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will honour him during the awards ceremony scheduled for 22 June 2016.

“Shane is an influential figure in today’s media landscape. Not only is he responsible for taking VICE, which started life as a punk magazine, and expanding it to become the world’s leading global youth media company, but also, he’s a critically acclaimed journalist,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals.

“Shane is a producer of Emmy, Peabody, and National Magazine Award-winning content, recognised not just for helping to reinvent news documentary but for helping to present complicated and urgent subjects like the environment and criminal justice in fresh, accessible terms.”