Lisbon, 18 May 2026 – The Lisbon Festivals are proud to announce that Renata Maia, Chief Creative Officer, North America at Ogilvy Health, has been appointed Jury President of the Lisbon International Health Festival 2026.
Taking place in the Portuguese capital from 9 to 12 June, the Lisbon Health Festival will gather leading voices from across creativity, healthcare, wellness, pharmaceutical communications and brand leadership to honour the ideas redefining how health is understood, communicated and experienced.
For its 2026 edition, the festival will introduce a Joint Jury model, with creative leaders and brand leaders joining forces in the same room. Still uncommon across the awards landscape, this approach reflects the festival’s ambition to evaluate health creativity from a broader and more realistic perspective: not only by the strength of the idea, but by its relevance, responsibility, clarity and ability to create lasting value in people’s lives.
In health and wellness, creativity carries a particular weight. The best work does not simply inform or persuade; it helps people understand, act, trust, care and make better decisions. The Lisbon Health Festival will therefore look for ideas with Slow Brand Value: ideas that combine imagination with usefulness, craft with empathy, and innovation with a genuine respect for the people and communities they serve.
As President of the Juries, Maia will lead the juries in identifying work that stands out not only for its creative ambition, but for its capacity to work in the real world — across patients, healthcare professionals, caregivers, systems, brands and society.
“It is truly an honour to serve as President alongside such a distinguished jury. In Health and Wellness, creativity operates in the real world. The ideas we evaluate are not just concepts; they appear in waiting rooms, support conversations between doctors and patients, influence decisions and shape behaviours. That is why every detail matters: the clarity of the message, the respect for people’s realities, and the ability of an idea to be used in practice.
Lisbon gives us a beautiful lens for this evaluation. Tiles remind us of craft and precision. Tides speak to how ideas adapt across people, systems and contexts. And time is the real test: whether an idea continues to make a difference beyond launch. This is also why the Joint Jury model is so important. By bringing together different perspectives, we can recognise work that holds up in reality and has the potential to create meaningful, lasting impact,” said Renata Maia, Chief Creative Officer, North America at Ogilvy Health and Executive Jury President of Lisbon Health Festival 2026.
A highly respected global creative leader, Maia brings deep experience across health, wellness, pharmaceutical and consumer communications. Throughout her career, she has championed work that connects strategic rigour with emotional intelligence, helping brands engage people with ideas that are both creatively powerful and practically meaningful.
“Renata brings exactly the kind of perspective this festival was created to celebrate,” said Ana Firmo Ferreira, President of Lisbon Festivals. “She comprehends that health creativity must be judged not only by how original it is, but by how useful, sensitive and enduring it can become. For 2026, our ambition is to recognise ideas with Slow Brand Value: ideas that travel across contexts, build trust over time and continue to matter long after their first appearance. With Renata leading both the Global and the Executive Juries, and with creative and brand leaders joining forces, we believe Lisbon Health can offer a more complete and more human way of evaluating the work.”
More than an awards platform, Lisbon International Health Festival is a space for the people shaping the future of health communication to come together, exchange perspectives and recognise the work that can make a lasting difference. Inspired by Lisbon’s light, craft, openness and sense of time, the 2026 edition will celebrate health creativity built with care; work designed to be understood, trusted, used and remembered.
