AWARD School announces scholarships in Diversity Challenge pop-up at Semi Permanent

Three aspiring creatives were awarded fully-paid scholarships to AWARD School 2017 last weekend in the final round of AWARD School’s diversity challenge at Semi Permanent festival of creativity and design.

With the support of BMF, Saatchi & Saatchi and Whybin\TBWA, 16 finalists were tasked with developing their application ideas further to help Meat & Livestock Australia, Toyota, and ANZ champion diversity across their businesses. Following a full day of mentoring and final pitches, scholarships were awarded to: Dave Matthews (NSW) – Toyota, Anneliese Sullivan (WA) – ANZ and Dominic Counahan (VIC) – Meat & Livestock Australia.

Says Niccola Phillips, AWARD School head: “It went so far beyond my expectations. Every single brief was extraordinary… ideas that, to be honest, you’d routinely see from middle weight creatives in agencies.”

Says Katie Thompson, corporate manager, brand communications and judge, Toyota: “The ideas were really well thought out and really well pitched. A great opportunity, not just for the people, but for us as brands to take part.”

Such was the standard of work that clients extended awards to Highly Commended for Emily Field (Toyota), Gemma Hewson (ANZ), Patrick O’Reilly (MLA).

Running for more than 30 years, AWARD School is Australia’s pre-eminent training program for the next generation of creatives in the Australian advertising industry.

Led by more than 40 senior creatives, AWARD School runs for 12 weeks and accepts around 200 students each year across NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS and NZ.

A full showcase of the work coming soon.

AWARD School is proudly sponsored by News Corp Australia.

(Picture 1. scholarship winners from L-R: Dave Matthews, Anneliese Sullivan, Dominic Counahan; Picture 2. finalists; Picture 3. mentors from L-R: Wassim Kanaan – Saatchi & Saatchi, Tara Ford – Whybin\TBWA, Simon Jarosz – Mediacom, Niccola Phillips – LIDA, Cam Blackley – BMF, David Warren – BMF)