The judging of The Intercontinental Advertising CUP has been moved, following the postponement of Thailand’s AdFest 2010 event, due to political unrest there currently.

Sarajevo – the capital of the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina – will welcome the judges from around the world next week; from Sunday March 14 to Wednesday 17th.

The CUP was originally scheduled to take place during AdFest 2010, with judges due to arrive in Thailand on Saturday and The CUP ceremony taking place Thursday, March 18, in Pattaya, Thailand.

However, last week, organisers took the decision to postpone AdFest following unexpected political events in Thailand and it was decided to move The CUP to Sarajevo. Jimmy Lam, president of AdFest, said: "I would like to thank our friends at Golden Drum and ADC*E (Art Directors Club Europe) for their help in relocating The CUP 2009 to Europe, with the support of city mayor office of Sarajevo. 

"We are very disappointed that The CUP 2009 will no longer coincide with AdFest 2010, but the organisers unanimously agreed that this was the right decision to make given that circumstances in Thailand could cause travel delays for our jury panel."

The political tension has been mounting in Thailand since the Thai Supreme Court stepped in to decide whether to seize the $2.3bn assets of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The former telecommuncations tycoon was popular among many rural Thais but removed from power by a coup in 2006 and now lives in exile in Dubai. His supporters, meanwhile, have been rallying, largely via Internet-enabled mobiles phones and new media such as Twitter (Thaksin has more than 65,000 followers on Twitter), which he uses to communicate directly with his supporters – ‘the red shirts’. There are concerns the unrest will escalate into violence over the next few days.

The CUP Awards are organised by three regional festivals: AdFest, FIAP (Ibero America) and Golden Drum (Eastern Europe). ADC*E (Europe) is also a participating member.

AdFest organisers will announce new dates soon – the event is likely to take place in late May 2010. The Asia Pacific winners of The CUP 2009 will be announced on the AdFest website on Friday (March 19) and winners will receive their trophies on stage at AdFest 2010. To sign up for email alerts, visit: www.adfest.com