News Corp Australia reveals 11 Australian representatives on the Spikes Asia juries

July 29 2015, 12:36 pm | BY Ricki Green | 3 Comments

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News Corp Australia, the official representative of the Spikes Asia Festival, has announced the jurors who will represent Australia in 11 categories with two being appointed jury presidents including Curious Film’s Peter Grasse (left) on the Film Craft jury and M&C Saatchi’s Ben Cooper (right) on the Innovation jury.

Australian jurors:

  • Film/Print/Poster Craft – Paul Nagy, Clemenger BBDO Sydney
  • Outdoor/Radio – Toby Talbot, DDB Sydney
  • Direct, Promo & Activation, Chris Johnson, Havas Worldwide
  • Digital & Mobile – Andy Ferguson, Droga5 Sydney
  • Media – Sophie Price, UMWW
  • PR – James Wright, Havas Worldwide
  • Film Craft – Peter Grasse, Curious Film – (jury president)
  • Creative Effectiveness – Gerry Cyron, LOUD
  • Branded Content & Entertainment – Emily Bull, Hellofuture.tv
  • Healthcare – Helen Shortis, Ursaclemenger
  • Innovation – Ben Cooper, M&C Saatchi – (jury president)

The Spikes Asia Festival will take place from 9-11 September in Singapore.

Says Sharb Farjami, director of national sales, News Corp Australia: “News is proud to be associated with a competition that celebrates the best creative talent in the Asia Pacific region. It’s great to have so much advertising talent representing Australia on each jury panel again this year.”

News Corp Australia is also sending three teams to compete in the Young Spikes competition in media, integrated and digital categories. The Young Spikes teams were awarded runners up in the 2015 Australian Young Lions competition run by News Corp Australia earlier in the year. The teams are:

  • Digital: Sam Dickson and Cam Bell from DT (NSW)
  • Integrated: Harry Neville from BMF (NSW) and Carl Edwards from InMobi (NSW)
  • Media: Queenie Ling from MEC (NSW) and Tim Hull from MediaCom (NSW)

The Young Spikes competition is a 24-hour challenge that is open to people under 28 years old and takes place during the Spikes Asia Festival. Participants must create a campaign in response to a brief set by a charity or non-profit organisation.

Says Farjami: “We’re excited to have three teams of talented creatives representing Australia as part of Young Spikes and wish them the very best of luck. After Australia’s success in Cannes this year, we have high expectations of these teams and are confident they will do Australia and their agencies proud.”

In June, News Corp Australia announced two of the teams sent to Cannes as part of the 2015 Australian Young Lions competition were successful in winning Young Lions Media Gold and Young Lions Film Silver awards. Jack Smyth, communications strategist from Initiative and Chris Colter, strategy director at UM scooped the gold, with Jordy Molloy and Chris Hanrahan of DDB Melbourne taking home the silver award.