Pele Awards

That's the Pele effect.

When you join the passionate pursuit for a Pele, everything starts to resemble a trophy. The Great Pyramids. Sailboat sails. Nacho chips. All Pele Gold. But there is only one true Pele Award – the pinnacle of excellence in Hawai‘i advertising and design. So if triangles are suddenly everywhere you look, it’s a sign: Pele season is here.

See a triangle! Snap it! Post it!

Share your finds of Pele-shaped objects in the wild by posting and tagging #PeleAwards. When you’re Pele-obsessed, those iconic triangles pop up everywhere.

Enter Now through March 1, 2025.

About the Pele Awards

The Pele Awards have been a part of Hawaii’s advertising and design community for more than 40 years. The Pele Awards is one of fifteen National District Competitions for the American Advertising Awards (also known as the ADDYs). The Pele Gold winners in all national categories are sent to the National Finals of the American Advertising Awards Competition to represent District 13. It’s designed to recognize excellence in advertising and design in the State of Hawaii for the past calendar year.

2025 Pele Judges

PANCHO GONZÁLEZ

Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Inbrax

Santiago, Chile

Bio

Pancho González studied advertising at the Universidad de Santiago in Chile and is MBA at the Berlin School in Steinbeis University, Germany. Currently is Chief Creative Officer at Inbrax Chile; Board Member & VP at IAB Chile; Marketing Circle Member at Icare and Board Member in Chilean Chamber of Creative Business.

He has been juror at: Cannes (2007-2021), Clio Awards, D&AD, One Show, The New York Festivals, Art Director’s Club, LIAA, Dubai Lynx, Caples, Global Best of Best Effie, Webbys Awards, Ad Stars, PIAF Awards, Grand Jury at Cresta, FIAP, FICE, Effie Awards, Mobius, Echo Awards, Golden Awards of Montreaux, Cristal Festival, AdForum, El Ojo de Iberoamerica and Achap (Chile), among many others; he has chaired the jury of AME Awards, The Drum and WINA. He has been speaker in Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Mexico, Germany, Guatemala, United States, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

More than 250 national and international recognitions (Cannes, ADC’s, LIA, One Show, New York Festivals, ANDY, FIAP, Ojo de Iberoamerica, Effie, Grand Effie, Webby Awards, Echo Latam, Grand Prix FICE, The Drum, Caples Awards, AME Awards, Communication Arts, Young Guns, Epica Awards, Cristal Festival, Creativity, Cresta Awards, Graphis, PHNX AdForum, Eagle, AdStar, IAB Mixx Awards, WINA Awards, Achap, Archive, The Indie Summit Awards, Creativepool, Fepi, Eagle Awards, Summit Creative Awards (Best of show), A’Design Awards, Never Zapping Festival). Top 25 Worldwide CCO and Worldwide Top 100 Influencer by Creativepool 2024, London; Top One Creative Director, Top 10 ECD and Top 10 Creative Agency at Bestadsontv.com 2021; nominated MKTG BEST 2018-21-22-23-24 as Chief Creative Director in Chile; Chilean top 1 copywriter of the decade and Chilean top 2 agency of the decade, both at Lüerzer’s Archive; Agency of The Year at WINA Festival 2020-22; Indie Agency of The Year at TopFICE 2020-22-23-24; Top 10 Crema Ranking 2014 & 2020 by Adlatina. Among the 40 Over Forty 2020 list.

Mentor at Acción Emprendedora; Female Foundry; Mentor at Red de Mentores; MBA Professor at Miami Ad School and Universidad de Santiago de Chile; Presenter at IAB Chile Seminar “New Normal Digital”; CRECHI (Chilean Congress for Creativity); Host of podcast #IABDigitalTalks; Coach at LIASON 2021/22 and D&AD 2021/22.

Throughout his career he had worked for local and global brands and is happily married and partnered with Carolina whom he has a son called Caetano.

https://www.inbrax.cl/

ANGELA KING

Group Creative Director, Trailer Park Group

Los Angeles, California

Bio

As award winning Group Creative Director at Trailer Park Group, Angela applies her knowledge and understanding of the design process for clients across a variety of media.

She brings over 20 years of design experience with a reputation for innovation, efficiency and an original creative flare. She has been involved in all aspects of the creative process from client management and concept development to design and production for entertainment and brand campaigns including Stranger Things, Wednesday, Wicked, Napoleon, Aquaman, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix.

She is a graduate of Art Center College of Design where she received her B.A. with honors in Graphic Design. She is also a member of Emmy’s Television Academy.

www.TrailerParkGroup.com

GARY PASCOE

EVP & Executive Creative Director, Doner Advertising

Detroit

Bio

Gary has spent 30+ years at some of the top advertising agencies in the country, including TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, TRG in Dallas, Commonwealth//McCann and BBDO in NYC/Detroit and Doner Detroit. Before joining Doner as Executive Creative Director, Gary spent a year as a full time Creative Advertising Professor at his alma mater, Michigan State University, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Gary created the Emmy nominated “Walter the Cat” campaign for Chevy, and brought the ‘Sopranos’ to the Super Bowl for the Silverado EV launch. Earlier in his career, he created Pennzoil’s “Not just oil, Pennzoil” campaign, Levi’s “Our models can beat up their models” campaign, and worked on the “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” Chihuahua campaign.

Gary is an Outstanding Alumni at Michigan State University, a two time Automotive News Marketing All Star, he has won 7 Effies, 7 Cannes Lions, 6 D&AD Pencils and 11 Clios.

Gary is married to Amy, lives outside of Detroit, has two teenage boys, Deano and Dylan, and has a one-eyed cat named Ralphie.

Doner | A Full Service Advertising Agency - Doner Detroit

NOK SANGDEE

VP/Creative Director, FCB-Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Bio

I was born and raised in Thailand. Decided to move across the world to go to the Adcenter (yes, I’m one of the OGs) where I learned what y’all means and what separates good ideas from great ones.

I’ve led teams and worked with brands across different categories. And I’ve won awards along the way. Pretty fancy, no?

Cannes Lions // Bronze (3), Shortlist (13)

LIA // Silver (1), Bronze (1)

One Show // Merit (4), Shortlist

ADC // Silver (1), Merit (2), Shortlist (8)

Radio Mercury // Best in Show (1)

Communication Arts // Winner (2) Published (3)

Download resume for extensive award list.

I’ve been called “the best and kindest boss.” I love nurturing talents while growing businesses and fostering relationship with clients and my counterparts.

When I’m not thinking about work, I cook and work on my yard. I have mean knife skills. But do not ask me to bake.

And of course, letting my 3 and 8 year olds boss me around (while my husband cheering them on). It’s so fascinating to see the world through their eyes and experience things for the first time again with them.

FCB Global | Homepage

FIEL VALDEZ

VP Creative, Ritual

Culver City, California

Bio

Fiel has never been one to follow a straight line. A fifth-grade obsession with blackletter calligraphy marked the beginning of a journey that zigzags between science and design. Coming from the expected Filipino family structure of nurse mom and engineer dad, Fiel was expected to follow them into the sciences. Failing hard as a freshman aerospace engineering student at UCLA steered her into photography.

At Art Center Fiel focused on large-format photography. Her mastery of Photoshop and a Wired design-director-family-friend led her into digital design, opening doors to projects like the Apple iPhone 1.0 launch, NASA JPL’s Planetary Photojournal site, James Cameron’s Titanic Explorer CD-ROM, and a Nike China campaign for the Beijing Marathon. As a creative director, she brought brands like Everlane, Sonos, and Levi’s to life in physical spaces, blending storytelling with sensory experiences.

Currently VP of Creative at Ritual, she leads the team that crafts the brand expression across all touchpoints. Under her leadership, Ritual expanded into Amazon, Whole Foods and Target; grew from one to five product categories; and became the best-selling prenatal multivitamin on Amazon. She opened Ritual’s first retail store in Venice, CA, and established a partnership with Angel City Football Club—all while achieving 83% diversity in representation in the brand’s creative.

A champion of the underrepresented, Fiel draws from her own unconventional career path to mentor emerging BIPOC creatives through Scope of Work. For her, success isn’t measured by awards but by the spaces she creates where creativity thrives and teams flourish.

Ritual: The Future of Health is Clear

PETER VATTANATHAM

Creative Director, ServiceNow

Los Angeles, California

Bio

Peter is a perpetually curious problem-solver and loves feeling that mix of jealousy and awe when in the presence of great ideas, no matter their form.

An award-winning creative leader with over 20 years of experience at agencies and in-house, he has built brands across diverse categories, including Activision, Sonos, Whole Foods, Netflix, Google, Facebook, Honey, and now - ServiceNow. Throughout his career, Peter has had the great fortune to be part of pivotal moments of transformation and numerous high-profile launches.

At Honey, Peter helped build a full-stack internal creative department that contributed to the company’s evolution from a startup into a globally recognized brand. This success led to Honey’s acquisition by PayPal for $4 billion, the largest tech deal in LA history.

Prior to this, Peter honed his expertise at agencies including 72andSunny, 180LA, BSSP, WK, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

Driven by a passion for storytelling, Peter strives to create work that not only resonates with audiences but also makes a positive impact.

https://www.servicenow.com/

2024 Ad Person Of the Year

2024 AD 2 HAWAII PERSON OF THE YEAR

JASMINE CHO

Branch Manager & Loan Officer, Territorial Savings

Bio

Jasmine's journey in Hawaii's advertising industry began at Chaminade University, where she was recognized as one of the nation's top 50 students and received the American Advertising Federation's Most Promising Multicultural Student award. She later represented her university in the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition and continued to contribute to the industry by taking on leadership roles with Ad 2 Hawaii and is now serving as the High School Pele Award Chair for the past four years.

Currently, Jasmine leverages her expertise as a Loan Officer and Branch Manager at Territorial Savings Bank, where she also assists with marketing efforts. In addition to her professional commitments, she is actively involved in community service through organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals, Hawaii Kai Jaycees, Honolulu Chinese Jaycees, and Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. During her downtime, Jasmine enjoys immersing herself in Asian dramas, anime, and TV series, as well as indulging in her love for endless scrolling on social media.

AAF-HAWAII 2024 AD MAN OF THE YEAR

BRENT SHIRATORI

Vice President -Global Brand Group, Outrigger Hospitality Group

Bio

As vice president, global brand group at OUTRIGGER Hospitality Group, Brent Shiratori champions OUTRIGGER’s brand and is responsible for marketing strategy and creative development for: paid media, integrated campaigns, web, social, email, communications programs, brand resources, loyalty & partnership marketing, sales team resources, and oversight of the overall guest experience and property brand activation.

Brent opened Aidia Marketing, a strategic marketing consultancy with his wife Celeste. And he has previously been director strategic planning at Matsumoto & Clapperton and 1013 Integrated. Before that he served as management supervisor at Carol H Williams Advertising and Marketing Drive, a DraftFCB company, in the Bay Area. Brent also worked at Laird Christianson Advertising, CP Advertising and Starr Seigle Advertising.

A triple major in marketing, accounting and management information systems, Brent holds his bachelor’s from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He serves on the board of Junior Achievement of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau’s marketing committee, and has several awards to his name, including HSMAI’s Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization; Ad 2 Honolulu’s Outstanding Young Advertising Person of the Year; the Jim Fish National Public Service Award; GD Crain Jr. Memorial Award for Public Service; Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Education Award; and Most Promising Minority Students Award from the American Advertising Federation.

AAF-HAWAII 2024 AD WOMAN OF THE YEAR

CLAIRE TONG

Director of Marketing, Hawaii Pacific Health

Bio

Claire Tong's journey began as an Air Force brat, fostering adaptability as her family traversed the globe. Despite initial aspirations for a medical career, Claire pivoted towards advertising, starting at Starr, Seigle, McCombs in 1986. Roles expanded to accounting, account service, and media buying, granting exposure to diverse industries. It was her tenure at Straub Clinic & Hospital from 1994 onwards that melded medical interests with marketing. Spearheading campaigns like "Straub Firsts" with Shooters Film Production earned Pele recognition.

Claire flourished at Hawai‘i Pacific Health, collaborating on award-winning initiatives. Recent endeavors include a transformative rebranding campaign in 2016 with Anthology Group, focusing on elevating brand awareness. Outside the office, Claire advocates for an active lifestyle, engaging in workouts and participating in numerous marathons, triathlons, and 10Ks. A staunch supporter of University of Hawai‘i Athletics, she serves as the current Na Koa President for the UH Football Program. Additionally, Claire champions community involvement, affiliated with various organizations, and cherishes quality time with her family and beloved dogs, whether traveling or enjoying peaceful moments at home.

AAF-HAWAII 2024 EXTRA MILE AWARD

KEOKI SMITH

Owner, Gripsmith

Bio

Keoki Smith is a freelance Grip and Electric Set Technician serving Hawaii’s Film and Television Industry for over 20 years.

Credits include work on films like Jurassic Park(2001), Descendants (2011) and Jamojaya (2021) and TV series like Hawaii 5-0(2016), Magnum PI(2019), and Baywatch, Hawaii (2000), Rescue HI-Surf (2023-2024)

Keoki is also the owner of Gripsmith LLC, a lighting equipment rental and service company serving local Hawaii commercial and independent producers.

“Good actors deserve good lighting. Bad actors also deserve good lighting.” -Keoki Smith

AAF District 13 2024 Silver Medal Award

BERNARD UY

Co-Founder, Partner & Executive Creative Director, Wall-to-Wall Studios

Bio

Bernard Uy (pronounced "WE”) is the co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Wall-to-Wall Studios, a creative branding agency that has produced award-winning graphic design, advertising and interactive work for over 30 years. With offices in Pittsburgh and Honolulu, W|W’s focus has always been about helping businesses connect with their audiences through building emotional brand currency. W|W has been fortunate enough to have worked with almost every industry that has returned his emails and cold calls.

Bernie (pronounced “BER-nee”) has previously served as a board member and past President of both AIGA Pittsburgh and Honolulu chapters, a past board member of Bishop Museum and is the current Board Chair of the non-profit Hawaii Arts Alliance. He has taught as an adjunct professor at his alma mater Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design, and as a visiting professor at the St. Gallen School of Design in Switzerland. Bernie was previously honored as a Pittsburgh magazine “40 Under 40," AAF Hawaii’s 2009 “Ad Man of Year,” a Hawaii Business Magazine “20 For The Next 20,” and called “One of the Tallest Bass Players In Our Band” by his bandmates, the Dangerous Pistols of Meow Meow. He enjoys cooking, spending time with his daughter, and writing about himself in the third person.