AUSTRALIAN YOUNG LIONS COMPETITION 2008 – SIX TRIPS TO CANNES UP FOR GRABS

News Limited’s group director of marketing: advertising and integration Mr Garth Agius has announced the launch of the Australian Young Lions Competition 2008 and the launch of a new website OZCANNES08

The Australian Young Lions Competition 2008, which is open to advertising professionals under the age of 28, aims to identify young talent within the domestic media, advertising and marketing communications industry. (two of last year’s Australian winners – Iggy Rodriguez and Justin Carew from DDB Sydney – are pictured left).

The winners of the competition, who will be judged by a panel of industry leaders, will represent Australia in the worldwide Young Lions Competition at this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, where they will compete against about 40 other national representatives. 

There are three categories in the Australian Young Lions Competition 2008 – Print, Cyber and, for the first time, a Media category.  The Media category brief is for The Australian newspaper and the Print and Cyber categories brief is for Surf Life Saving Australia. 

News Limited will send the six winning Young Lions to the Festival, covering flights, accommodation and Festival registration. 

The deadline for submissions for the Australian Young Lions Competition is 5pm on Friday April 4, 2008. The winning entries will be announced in May.

Full details about the competition and how to enter can be found at OZCANNES08 

Says Agius: “The Cannes Young Lions are a terrific opportunity for our future industry leaders. Winning a Young Lion has been known to change the career of creative talent in our industry. This year, we’re thrilled to extend this opportunity to Australian media professionals for the first time, with the winner representing Australia and mixing it with the best from other countries at Cannes in the world-wide competition.”

Says Gary Hardwick, managing partner of ikon communications and president of the Media Federation of Australia said “Cannes has for many years celebrated the bright young creative talent through the young Creative Lions competition and Media rightly takes its place alongside this fine establishment. I wish that I had been given the opportunity when I was a young media practitioner.”

Dejan Rasic, executive creative director of Colman Rasic Carrasco and winner of ten Cannes Lions said: “The Cannes Young Lions competition is a great opportunity for up-and-coming creatives to compete on a world stage and raise their profile. I gained invaluable experience when representing Australia in the Young Lions and was lucky to get there three times. I wholeheartedly recommend entering.”

New Website

News Limited also launched today a new Australian Cannes Lions website  OZCANNES08 which contains detailed information about the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Sections on the website include:

• latest Festival news and announcements

• details of the Australian Young Lions Competition

• how to enter Cannes Lions

• Attending the Festival

• Cannes History

• local contact details for any questions relating to the Festival

The 55th International Advertising Festival will be held 15-21 June 2008 in Cannes.