Jesse Young crowned top student at VIC AWARD School graduation held last night in Melbourne

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6 (1).jpgJesse Young (left) has been awarded Top Student at Victoria’s 2017 AWARD School graduation ceremony, which took place at Smart Artz Gallery in Melbourne tonight (26 July).

Jesse was tutored by: James Willis, Kieran Moroney, Aaron Pepper, Jake Barrow of Y&R; and Pete Cvetkovski and Adam Ferrie of Publicis.

He is now in the running for Top Student at the National AWARD School Competition, with the chance to win a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet David Droga in NYC. The national winner will be announced on Monday 7 August in Sydney.

Second place was awarded to Oliver Brock, who was tutored by: Adam Barnes and Ray Ali of Clemenger BBDO; and Anna Yates and Locki Choi of DDB.

James Orr, Michael Mulcahy, Jesse Young, Elle Bullen (1).jpgThird place went to Kate Foley, who was tutored by: Michael Punton and Lars Wannop of Isobar; and Alex Metson and Blair Kimber of Leo Burnett.

Before a crowd of industry professionals and supporters, VIC AWARD School Heads Elle Bullen (SDWM), James Orr (SDWM)jesseyoungkatefoleyoliverbrock.jpg and Michael Mulcahy (JWT) congratulated the class of 50 graduates on completing the 12 week intensive course.

Commenting on the calibre of the 2017 class, Bullen said: “We’ve been blown away by the effort and enthusiasm shown by this year’s students. The briefs continue to get tougher and more challenging every year, but the ideas only get better and better. The level of innovativetopstudentandtutors.jpg thinking, particularly in non-traditional media, has been exceptional. Bravo to all.”

The School Heads also took the opportunity to thank this year’s lecturers, tutors and judges for their time and support over the 12 week course. For a full list of 2017 AWARD School VIC Tutors, click here.8 (1).jpg

VIC Top 10 Students:

1st place – Jesse Young

2nd place – Oliver Brock

3rd place – Kate Foley

The final seven graduates to make the VIC top 10, in no particular order, are:

Katarina Matic

Ben Grant

Jack Harrison

Matthew Bladin

Harrison Robbins

Aaron Bethune

Keir Telfer-Williams

AWARD School VIC Judge and Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson Melbourne, Annie Price said: “In previous years, it’s been quite a clear gap between great, good and average. But thisvicgrads.jpg year, the gaps had closed significantly and it was tough to pick. We deliberated over those top spots, and there were a lot of fantastic contenders. So well done, class of 2017. Hopefully agencies will be snapping up this wealth of fresh talent at graduation night.”

This year’s five state winners from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane will have their books reviewed by the National Competition ‘Super Jury’, comprising leading creatives from around the world.

The National Competition coincides with the 30th anniversary of a teenage David Droga, Founder and Creative Chairman of renowned agency Droga5, winning Top Student at AWARD School in 1987.

To mark the occasion, AWARD School will fly the national winner to NYC to meet David Droga and to compare their winning portfolios from 1987 and 2017.

Dates for all graduation ceremonies are as follows:

QLD – Wednesday 19 July

NSW – Tuesday 25 July

VIC – Wednesday 26 July

SA – Thursday 27 July

WA – Friday 28 July

National Announcement (in Sydney) – Monday 7 August