AWARD School celebrates Sydney graduation
Last night marked the Student Graduation of the 27th year of AWARD School, sponsored by Google, held at The Loft. One hundred Sydney students celebrated at this year’s graduation.
Hosted by AWARD Chairman, Craig Davis and AWARD School co-heads Rebecca Carrasco and Dustin Lane, the evening saw creatives, students, tutors, guest speakers and media come together to welcome the next generation of creative talent and enjoy an exhibition of students’ top work.
The award for top AWARD School student in Sydney went to Neil Johnston (pictured below, with Craig Davis),who will now go forward to National and NZ judging against each topstate student across Australasia.
Second place went to Mark Carbone, while Aaron Blabey placed third.
These students, along with the remaining top 10; Chris Baker, JonoFlannery, Amy Freeland, Tom Hartney, Brendon Killen, Danielle Lattuca,Emily Quail, will receive a place in AWARD Craft – a one-week creativeskills course taught by successful senior creatives.
AWARD will also offer a place in the AWARD Mentor program to the top11-30 students; Alana Attard, Alessio Centritto, Will Clark, MichaelCunningham, Peter Defries, Julia Dixon, Peter Dockrill, CameronDowsett, Richard Gray, Onil Kotian, Maria Macapagal, AnitaNyotosetiadi, Ben Peppernell, Casey Schweikert, Briton Smith, MarkTallis, Daniel Tully, Danielle White, Brook Windred, Kae Yen Wong.
AWARD Chairman Craig Davis thanked gold sponsor Google and extended aspecial thank you to school heads Dustin and Rebecca for theirdedication to AWARD School: “Well done for surviving thepast months and good luck for the future. You have an opportunity tocreate and contribute like no previous graduates with more tools andtechnologies at your disposal than ever. I hope the creative thinkingyou have acquired during AWARD school will serve you well as in the endcreativity is the force that turns problems into opportunities andopportunities into progress.”
Says Daniel Leesong (far left, with Craig Davis and AWARD deputy chairman Michael Ritchie), CEO The Communications Council: “I’d like tothank guest speakers, school heads, tutors and judges for theircommitment to fostering and developing the next generation of creativestars. Students should be justifiably proud of their achievements overthe past 16 weeks with some outstanding creative ideas contained in theextensive body of work.”
The judging panel responsible for selection of the top students and the’work on the wall’ included: Mark Harricks – DDB, Kieran Antill – LeoBurnett, Micah Walker – Mojo, Dustin Lane, Shane Bradnick -BMF, Steve Back – Saatchi & Saatchi, Matt Heck, Nick Morrissey -Three Drunk Monkeys, Mike Barnwell – ex Lowe Sydney, Dejan Rasic – CRC,Christian Finucane – 12:20, Graham Johnson, Gavin Mcleod – M&CSaatchi, Rebecca Carrasco, Mojo NZ.
Agencies involved in tutoring in NSW included BMF, BWM, DDB, DraftFCB, Human, George Patterson Y&R, JWT, Kastner& Partners, Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi, Momentum, Moon Group,Saatchi & Saatchi, Tequila, The Campaign Palace, The Works, ThreeDrunk Monkeys.
Guest speakers included Justin Baird from Google and top creative directors including Warren Brown(BMF), Luke Chess (Lavender) Tim Brown , PeterBuckley (Disciple), Justin Drape and Scott Nowell (Three Drunk Monkeys),Julian Watt (GPY&R), Ralph Van Dijk (Eardrum), Ashley Ringrose(Soap), Jonathan Kneebone (The Glue Society), Cameron Blackley (Droga5), Nick Worthington (Colenso BBDOAuckland), Jeff Goodby (Goodby, Silverstein & Partners), MattyBurton (Whybin\TBWA), Mike O’Sullivan (Droga5 Auckland) and Richard Maddocks.
Google AWARD School will host its Melbourne Graduation party on August 11th, 2010.
For further information, including registration for the 2011 program,contact Linda Anderson on linda@communicationscouncil.org.au.
Missing in top picture: Tom Hartney, Danielle Lattuca
48 Comments
He sounds like a mover and shaker that Dustin Lane
Great night guys! I bet there’s a few sore heads this morning. I know I’ve got one 😉
Well done Neil!
That Neil is so hot.
The more important question, what shampoo does Neil use?
Justin’s got some serious competition now.
congrats neil!
glad the hard work payed off mate, so stoked for you – well deserved!
Looks like the cast from Bluewater High.
Well done to all students. And special congrats to Aaron – well done mate.
Brilliant job by Dustin and Rebecca in making this year such a great success.
Past
Business Director at theBrandshop
Account Director at Sponge Agency
Account Director at George Patterson Y&R
Looks like he got a little Extra tuition through his work / contacts no?
Dustin looks good in a white shirt?
White’s the new black.
Well done Neil great effort.
12.22… Back in your box. As someone reading on I’d say he would have been better off without the help of any of those agencies (they’re all rubbish).
i rang the communications council and offered a job to the winning two students.
twice i talked to them and they never called back. not the secretary or the receptionist.
the person in charge of award at the communications council.
now i read about the graduation and they didn’t even bother to tell someone who was going to employ two students when it was.
i have taught super group twice, lectured at award twice and taught award five times.
this communication council is a badly prganised joke and does not have the industry or students interests at heart.
i am disgusted by their unprofessionalism, ineptitude and quite frankly pure stupidity.
something has to be done.
they are not doing any favours to the industry.
well said 2.14 I think its high time all these fees actually went to something better than booze and party food. We as an industry have a lot less going on than we think we do.
2.14 again.
and so i have to use headhunters to find students that the miscommunications council has failed to even tell about jobs that are on offer.
as that famous line in cool hand luke goes…’what weeee haaavvvvvveeee here is a failllure to coommmmuniccccatttee”.
unacceptable.
hold your heads in shame.
i will be ringing your ceo this week as well as testing the waters amongst all the heavyweights on suit and creative side to see whether a performance review is in order and whether we as industry professionals actually want or need you and need the government to pay for you.
maybe even a full page ad campaign about the wasted fees paid to you might make you pick up the phone next time.
we do after all write ads that influence people.
maybe we should write a series that point out THIS inept institution.
as you can tell i am rather irate.
yours vein poppingly.
‘high time all these fees actually went to something better than booze and party food’
I don’t understand the problem.
well said 2.32 they should ditch the party food for drugs. like the good ol days
2:14,
I don’t understand your problem. The winners were only announced last night.
If you want to talk to them now, simply pick up the telephone.
Dear Anonymous (2.14),
I note with interest your issues, albeit in an anonymous capacity. As always, I am more than happy to have a conversation about any issues you may have.
Feel free to call at any time – 02 8297 3800.
@12:22
Your arrogance is what failed you at Award school, and it’s what’s going to continue to fail you trying to make it in the industry.
It’s sad and pathetic.
Really liked Neil, Amy and Marks work. Well done!!
how is the blonde in grey?
Does that Neil Johnston bloke look a bit like what Sean Cummins wishes he looked like?
To Anonymous who wrote:
Past
Business Director at theBrandshop
Account Director at Sponge Agency
Account Director at George Patterson Y&R
Looks like he got a little Extra tuition through his work / contacts no?
You forgot to add:
Present
Award School Winner
Future
Kick ass Creative!
Well done Neil.
A
Hi David.
Thanks for getting on the blog.
I think we’d all like to know a couple of things.
And seeing as you’re a non-profit organisation, these will be easy to answer.
In NSW, 100 students paid 2500.
That’s $250,000
Google, Warner Brothers and others ‘sponsored’ the school – that’s not cheap. I’ll say $50,000 but it’s probably more.
So we’re at $300,000 now.
Every Award School student got an Award book. Well, you printed them, so they were cost. Let’s say a mighty $10 each. That’s $299,000 left.
All the tutors, unpaid.
$299,000 left.
Speakers, presumably unpaid.
(But let’s assume Geoff Goodby charged $10,000 for a flight.)
$289,000 left.
You charged Award members $25 each to go to the final graduation.
No idea how many were prepared to pay.
Let’s call the bar tab $25,000. That’s if they drank it dry.
$264,000 left.
Let’s now add Melbourne, Perth and Asia to the pot.
Where the hell does the cash go?
TST TST
Neil has had the best hair in advertising for ages, well done dude.
AWARD School might have paid for Nick Worthington’s flight from NZ. Jeff Goodby did it gratis.
There’s the hefty venue fees for the lectures, the a/v guys, TCC admin salary offsets, costs, dubbing and editing videos, couriering them to other cities, some printing, some stationery, the graduation party, etc etc.
Go crazy and call it 100K and it’s still questionable. This year they didn’t even supply the kids with the ubiquitous vinyl folios. And no one was in charge of admin on the FB page which was a disgrace and would have made that whinging anonymous CD’s job a helluva lot easier to put that job out there, instead of presuming a party invite because he says “I’m hiring”.
BTW whinging anon hiring CD, you don’t get a guernsey the years you’re not speaking/tutoring, unless you’re a Gold AWARD member as far as I know. Maybe it’s not enough to just call AWARD and say “I’m hiring, can I come?”
Sheesh, anyone can say that.
Neil looks like Gary from Team America.
I am a little confused at the amount of negativity I have been hearing about AWARD. Regardless of where the money has gone I think this course is damn good value for money. I have done two University degrees which left me about $50000 in debt and I think I have learned more in 4 months at AWARD than 6 years of some fat head reading from a text book at uni…
Well done Neil you deserve it mate!
12:22 is right on the money.
AWARD is a self-perpetuating, inbred creature of The Creative Elite.
Everyone knows damn well it’s as rigged as the hidden magnets on a shonky old pinball machine.
Don’t do your dollar, kids.
has anyone heard about the word “investment”? From students perspective the $2000 are absolutely nothing compared to what we got in exchange. Great mentors and dedicated tutors…the communication council wasn’t great in terms of communication (since Hanna left…) everyone must have noticed that. Said that, you can save all this bitching about money and focus on the big picture. This was a great opportunity and I guess the winner is who get the most out of it (contacts, job opportunities, making new friends…) not the one that finds out where they money have gone!
Wake up Dreamers!
To Rocco:
agree, she was hot!
eerrrr i dont think the cd was complaining about not going …it was about after he had offered the jobs they never even bothered to get back to him.
not good.
daniel i shall be calling you.
Hey Neil, well done, but on another note, Prince Valiant called and wants his hair back.
This is where the money goes,
http://www.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-bin/gns030c?acn=001838044&juris=9&hdtext=ACN&srchsrc=1
Limited By Guarantee:
A registered non-profit organisation specifically structured for a club or charity that must reinvest all profits into the company for the benefit of its members.
Prince Valiant. Brilliant. Congrats to Amy too, not surprised to see you in the top ten. Congrats to all the top students this year.
@ 9:20 I totally agree with you. But don’t forget the two HB pencils we got.
Daniel…your response?
It kinda doesn’t feel legal.
Don’t get me wrong I loved AWARD School and got a lot out of it. But I would really like some transparency.
I’m leaving advertising now. I just applied for AWARD school 2011 and from this blog I’ve changed my mind. TV and print is dead you say? Is this the future of digital. Absolutelyfuckinlovely. Why don’t you all just stick it up your foul mouthed online fingers.
We are the future and when you are old and gray and can’t figure out how to brain/heart/finger/lick/fuck/kiss/fun/pray/live interface, there won’t be those holiday homes for the advertising old folk you dream of. We will just simple put you in an online box and farewell you to syberearth.
Sent from my iHeart
Farewell 2:41. We don’t need you anyway. Turn off the lights on your way out.
2:41 – I didn’t realise applications were open. And judging from your attitude, I didn’t realise you’d get in.
I must say as a student in melbourne. We didnt even get to see the goodby Video . Bit silly really.
Also was really suprised by the amounts of people already working in the industry. Not really a level playing field in my opinion. You have a guy that WON. Great its not easy. But I do think prolonged exposure to ads(even if your in accounts) is still a massive boost, as you have resources avail to you 24 and can ask for opinions any day of the week.But hey lifes not easy. at least I know I have a ten yr head start on your ass ahah…….
Among all these sour comments I thought I’d chime in with how well award school’s been run the past few years. Well done Carrasco and Dustin for this year its been a top line up of lecturers, tutors and judges, last year too. It’s been great to see Kiwi lectures like Worthington and MikeO getting involved as well, Choice.
To the top ten: Congratulations, now the hard work begins. Remember one thing, nobody cares about what you\’ve done in the past or where you finished at AWARD school, it\’s what you do tomorrow that counts. Trust me, I finished top ten myself and it took years to get anything decent up.
To the haters: AWARD school, like the industry has always been what you make of it. If you\’re lucky, a creative will tell you how to come up with an idea. If you\’re not, all the better if you work it out yourself. Every brief is solely what you make of it, not your CD or tutors / lecturers.
If you choose to research good ads and read books in your own time, you\’ll excel. If you choose to work night and day until you nail a great idea, you\’ll excel.
If you want to be an ass, think you\’re better than anyone with experience and develop a cocky attitude before you\’ve even had a real campaign made, you\’ll be in the 99% of graduates that either don\’t make it past 2 internships in the business or don\’t get an internship at all. I saw the work from this year and while it was ok, most of it wouldn\’t pass as great in a decent creative department. I say this with respect, for students the quality is still high.
Suck it up, anyone who\’s lasted more than 10 years with a reasonable portfolio is probably a little brighter than you think. Yes, we want juniors who are hungry to take our jobs, but not until they\’ve proven they can.
Hear, hear 10:56.
Crispin Porter are looking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsQCLgVYmEg
congrats neil. I can not imagine juggling award school and a lucrative carer as an adult film star. God bless you, and your hair.