Fernando Luz tops 2016 AWARD School NSW; 50:50 gender split of successful applicants this year; six out of the top ten graduates female

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Fernando-AWARD.jpgAWARD-School-2016.jpgFernando Luz has been awarded Top of Class at the 2016 AWARD School NSW graduation ceremony, which took place at The Loft in Sydney last night.

Luz (pictured left – centre) was tutored by two agency groups; Justin Carew (far left) and Nigel Clark from Leo Burnett and Sarah Parris, Jerome Gaslain and Jon Foye from BWM Dentsu.

Close to 260 industry professionals, sponsors, media and graduates came together to celebrate the graduation of more than 100 NSW students who have now completed the preeminent training program for aspiring creatives and art directors in Australia and New Zealand.

Top 10 Students:

1st place – Fernando Luz

2nd place – Cyndall McInerney

3rd place – William Halstead

The final seven graduates to make the NSW top 10, in no particular order, include:

Isabel Brand

Jack Chapman

Leila Cranswick

Nicola McCooe

Celia Mortlock

Joe Ranallo

Hayley Warwick

AWARD-SHOOL-2016_79A0501-2[2].jpgAWARD-SCHOOL-Top-3.jpgPreparing the graduates for the next step in their careers, AWARD chair and managing partner of The Sweet Shop, Wilf Sweetland, said: “AWARD School is the pre-eminent, most highly sought after, and most highly regarded course in Australasia that teaches students how to think creatively. What these students have achieved over 12 weeks is an excellent grounding for a long and rewarding career in commercial creativity. We look forward to welcoming them into the industry, supporting their development and celebrating with them as they graduate this evening.”

From more than 1000 submissions, a selection of 55 outstanding pieces were chosen for display by this year’s jury. NSW AWARD School Heads Niccola Phillips (Head of Art, M&C Saatchi), and Simon Jarosz, (Creative Director, MediaCom) congratulated the students on their work and achievements and thanked the tutors for their enthusiasm and commitment.  

Says Phillips: “It was a pleasure and a privilege being one of the AWARD School heads for 2016. One of our major aims this year was to champion diversity, and we’re delighted to say that we succeeded with an unprecedented 50:50 gender split of successful applicants, and six out of the top ten ultimately being female.

We also wanted to ensure that the students’ work was carefully considered and seen by a number of Australia’s top creative directors, and by splitting the judging over three nights, every folio was given the attention it deserved. There was tighter curation of ‘The Wall’ this year, ensuring a consistently high calibre of the work on display, and the Top Ten were reviewed by two Executive Creative Directors on a dedicated night of judging to ensure that they were properly benchmarked and awarded fairly.”  

A special thank you to the tutors who mentored the students over the 3 month program.

AWARD graduation ceremonies are still set to take place in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth. Dates for the upcoming ceremonies are as follows:

Melbourne: Tonight: 20 July

Adelaide: 28 July

Brisbane: 28 July

Perth: 3 – 5 August

AWARD School is also currently running in Auckland.

The AWARD School program has now been running for over 30 years; the 2016 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 creative director of J Walter Thompson, both based in New York. Craig Davis, ex-Chairman of AWARD and former worldwide CD of JWT, was also an AWARD graduate.