News Limited announces 2012 Australian Young Lions winners – five teams off to Cannes in June

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Screen shot 2012-05-18 at 10.50.49 AM.jpgNews Limited, the official Australian representative of the Cannes Lions 2012 International Festival of Creativity has revealed the winners of the prestigious 2012 Australian Cannes Young Lions competition.

Daniel Grech and Jordy Molloy from DDB Melbourne took out the Film category; Peter Renigeris from M&C Saatchi Sydney and Mietta McFarlane from Oglivy Sydney won in Print; Garret Fitzgerald, Freelance and Sam Dickson from Whybin\TBWA\Tequila, Melbourne won in Digital; David Gray from Universal McCann and Lina Nguyen from Mindshare took out the Media category; and Sirisha Pulapaka from Workstar and Helen Luoung, Audi Australia won the Young Marketer category.

Screen shot 2012-05-18 at 12.09.36 PM.jpgPeter_Mietta.jpgScreen shot 2012-05-21 at 7.46.10 PM.jpgThe five winning teams, who will represent Australia at the International Festival of Creativity in Cannes in June, were revealed last night in front of the cream of Australia’s media and advertising industries.

On the Film win by Daniel Grech and Jordy Molloy (left), DDB Melbourne ECD Grant Rutherford said the boys had done an unbelievable job: “The’ve made me extraordinarily proud. To write, direct, shoot and edit one ad for this competition in less than 48 hours is challenge enough, but to shoot two? Coming first and second is almost unimaginable.”

Ogilvy Sydney ECD Brett Howlett says of the Print winners Peter Renigeris and Mietta McFarlane (left): “I am so excited for Mietta. She’s a terrific creative and this is well deserved. The Young Lions will be an amazing experience for her – lucky for Ogilvy and Australia.”

Adds M&C Saatchi Sydney ECD Ben Welsh: “All the finalists did work that was better than most ads, so I’m thrilled that Peter (and Mietta) won. Mind you, last time we had a team shine at this they got nabbed by Duncan!”

Whybin\TBWA\Tequila creative director Damian Royce says of the Digital winners Garret Fitzgerald (below left) and Sam Dickson (below right): “Sam’s fairly new to our industry so the Young Lions challenge in Cannes will provide him a really valuable experience. I’m very happy for him and wish both Sam and Garret well.”

This year’s competition was the most competitive yet with finalists chosen from a record number of entries responding to a News Limited brief in print, digital, film, media and marketing categories.

The second round of the competition saw the short listed finalists compete in a 24-hour brief, (48 hours in film) on behalf of Priceline, for their ‘Priceline Sisterhood programme’‚, supporting women’s health organisations.

The winning teams, chosen by a panel of Australia’s leading senior creative and media executives, will receive return flights to Nice, accommodation and registration to The International Festival of Creativity in Cannes and access to all seminars and awards ceremonies, alongside the opportunity to represent Australia in the international Young Lions competition.

News Limited’s director of sales Tony Kendall said 2012 was a vintage year for Young Lions programme with the standard of entries superseding all previous competitions.

“I can honestly say all this year‚s entries were outstanding in concept, creativity and execution, making judging even more difficult than usual.

“However every competition needs a winner, and congratulations go to all the teams making their way to represent their country in Cannes this year.

“The Cannes Young Lions competition is unique in the Australian creative community in encouraging and nurturing young talent, and I’m incredibly proud News Limited continues to support the future of our industry in this way.”

Says Amanda Connors, Director of Marketing for Priceline: “It has been fantastic to see the brightest young creative minds in Australia develop some truly impressive campaign concepts for the Priceline Sisterhood and our charity partners, as part of the Young Lions programme.

“The quality and creativity of all the entries was outstanding, and I wish the winning teams the best of luck in Cannes.”

The 2012 Australian Young Lions Winners and Finalists are:

Film

Winner

Daniel Grech and Jordy Molloy, DDB Melbourne

Finalists

Emily Lynch and Simon Gibson, Clemenger BBDO Sydney

Ryan Fitzgerald and Jim Curtis, DDB Sydney

Print

Winner

Peter Renigeris, M&C Saatchi and Mietta McFarlane, Oglivy Sydney

Finalists

Ryan Fitzgerald and Jim Curtis, DDB Sydney

Julia Spencer and Delia Mennell, JWT Sydney

Chloe Banicevic and Archana Murugaser, US Sydney

Digital

Winner

Garret Fitzgerald, Freelance and Sam Dickson, Whybin\TBWA\Tequila, Melbourne

Finalists

Brett Walsh and Jake Ranallo, Tongue

Liam Riddler and Emma Clowes, 303Lowe

Media

Winner

David Gray, Universal McCann

Lina Nguyen, Mindshare

Highly commended

Catherine Rushton, Mindshare

Sam Geer, MediaCom

Highly commended

Benjamin Burrett, Mindshare

Kristine Ballensky, Universal McCann

Finalists

Toby Fisher, Razor

Camilla Wallace, OMD

Mitchell Long, PHD

Kiara Fogliani, Initiative

Andrew Da Silva,  MediaCom

Tim Farmer, Carat

Rob Dickens, MediaCom

Emily Young, OMD

Lachlan Kent, Universal McCann

Olivier Mok, The Brand Agency

Young Marketer

Winner

Sirisha Pulapaka, Workstar

Helen Luoung, Audi Australia

Finalists

Sarah West, Proctor & Gamble

Laura Bindon, AMP Capital