The first day of the ABBY Awards at Goafest 2025 spotlighted the industry’s leading players in media and publishing. Dominating the Media ABBYs were four stand-out agencies: Wavemaker India, Mindshare India, EssenceMediacom, and Initiative Media.
Wavemaker India clinched the coveted title of Media Agency of the Year, securing an impressive haul of 19 metals. This tally included 6 Golds, 8 Silvers, 4 Bronzes, and the sole Grand Prix of the night. The Grand Prix was awarded for Dream11’s campaign ‘India's New Local Language’ under the Innovative Use of Audio Visual sub-category.
Mindshare India followed with a strong performance, taking home 13 metals, 4 Golds, 4 Silvers, and 5 Bronzes. EssenceMediacom earned a total of 6 metals, split evenly with 2 Golds, 2 Silvers, and 2 Bronzes. Initiative Media walked away with 4 metals, including 3 Golds and 1 Silver.
Altogether, 64 Media ABBY awards were distributed on the opening day.
In the Publisher ABBYs segment, ABP Pvt Ltd was crowned Publisher of the Year, bagging 5 awards. Among them was a Gold for ‘Cadbury Gaane Mishti Utsabe Rasabanga’.
Jagran Prakashan Ltd won 2 Golds for Dainik Jagran’s ‘Brick by Brick We Build a Nation’, while Bennett, Coleman & Co. received a Gold for Flipkart Minutes’ ‘Hydrochromic Ink Pullout’. FCB India was recognised with a Gold for Navneer Education’s ‘Colour Blindness Detection Textbook’, and HT Media also scored a Gold for ‘A Print Delivery for Flipkart Minutes’.
A total of 19 Publisher ABBYs were awarded during the day’s proceedings.