The presentation of the 5th annual International YoungGuns Awards Ceremony, Exhibition and Party was held at Fox Studios, Sydney last night. Continuing their ‘Hardly Legal’ theme, a huge crowd of top young creatives (and not so young) partied hard until the early hours of this morning.

In the closest race in five years for the Agency of the Year title, Crispin Porter + Bogusky Miami looked certain to take the honours for the second year running after winning the highest number of Gold and Silver bullets across the most categories; that was until the jury unanimously voted Juan Cabral’s magical ‘Balls’ spot for Sony (out of Fallon London) as the Best in Show. This honour saw Fallon London leapfrog CP+B to claim the title.

The Sony ‘Balls’ spot (pictured) picked up two Gold Bullets as well as Best in Show. Its Argentinean creator and 2005 YoungGun of the Year Juan Cabral will enjoy the US$5000 prize purse as well receiving an invitation from the YoungGuns organisers to sit on the 2006 YoungGuns Jury.

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney [2 Silver, 6 Bronze] and Colenso BBDO Auckland [3 Silver, 2 Bronze] were the stand out agencies in Australasia, finishing equal 3rd in the world agency rankings - a huge achievement. Other Australasian shops that picked up bullets were Publicis Mojo Sydney and Melbourne, MTC New Zealand, Y&R Melbourne and Saatchi’s Ackland.

Saatchi & Saatchi picked up the YoungGuns Network of the Year award for the second time (also winning in 2003) with wins from its offices in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Norway, Malaysia, USA and Singapore.

As Jury Chairmen, Andy Fackrell (180 Amsterdam) and Nobby (Saatchi Sydney) both said the overall standard of work entered in 2005 was great, although film proved to be a lot stronger than print (something quite the opposite in 2004).

The Student Award impressed yet again, with Menno Kluin (Miami Ad School, Hamburg) taking the top prize for his ‘Hubba Bubba’ print campaign. Menno is currently working for Aussie ex-pat Young Gun Leo Premutico at Saatchi & Saatchi, New York and was in Sydney to accept his Gold Bullet.