AWARD School Tasmania announces Nathan Clegg as top of class at last night’s graduation

Nathan Clegg (right) has been named Tasmania’s top AWARD School student at a graduation ceremony held at Capital North Hobart on 12 November.

The evening celebrated five successful applicants who made it through to this year’s AWARD School in Tasmania – a highly competitive and intensive 12 week course designed to prepare aspiring copywriters and art directors for the realities of agency life with a focus on idea generation.

Graduates include Ian Wallace, Bettina Bomford, Errin Price and Christopher Willis.

The evening showcased the best pieces of work from the 2015 course, selected by this year’s course chairs.

Award School head Sam Dobie, art director at Clemenger congratulated the graduates: “Award School is a tough course, the expectations are high and standards even higher. It’s extremely rewarding to see the students evolve and expand their creative thinking over the 12 weeks. Tasmania has always had a strong culture of creativity, and to see it channelled into rewarding creative careers is excellent. I couldn’t recommend the course highly enough to students looking to challenge themselves.

“This year’s winner presented a strong folio of work, and the judges were unanimous in their decision. It was a great example of hard work and dedication in the pursuit of original ideas.

“A big thank you must also be given to our team of tutors and guest speakers who have volunteered their time generously to mentor our students.”

This year’s tutors and guest speakers include:

Sam Dobie, Clemenger, Senior Art Director

Marcus Murphy, Clemenger, Creative Director

Sam Burnett, Red Jelly, Copywriter

Adrian Bell, Clemenger, Senior Art Director

Jimmy Clough, Clemenger, Senior Writer

Mark Ringer, Truth and Magic, Founder

Peter Choraziak, Red Jelly, Co-founder and Director

Warrick Sears, Freelance Creative    

Matt Fishburn, Clemenger, Managing Director

The AWARD School program has now been running for more than 30 years; the 2015 graduates follow in the footsteps of many of today’s creative leaders, including past students: David Droga, founder and creative chairman of Droga5, and Matt Eastwood, worldwide chief creative officer at JWT, New York, Craig Davis, ex-chairman of AWARD and co-chairman and chief creative officer of Publicis Mojo.