Brisbane AWARD School announces Bec McCall as top graduating student in its 2012 class

The Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association (AWARD) has today announced Bec McCall (left) as the top student graduating from the Brisbane branch of AWARD School, the ideas program for aspiring art directors and copywriters.

At a graduation ceremony held on Tuesday night (14th August) at the QA Hotel, Brisbane AWARD School heads, Marianne Harvey and Cristian Staal, announced that the honours for top AWARD School student went to McCall.

Commenting on the announcement, AWARD chairman, Craig Davis, congratulated all the students singled out by the judges.

Says Davis: “It’s exciting that there’s such great talent coming through in our industry and we’re delighted to see Bec leading the way among this year’s graduates.”

Margaret Zabel, CEO of The Communications Council, welcomed the news and thanked all those involved in making AWARD School such a valuable introduction to the industry.

Says Zabel: “We are lucky to have such talented professionals willing to give up their time to help guide the next generation of creative talent on their career paths. Congratulations to all the top graduates; we look forward to following your progress over the coming years.”

AWARD acknowledges Nancy Hartley (SapientNitro), Alan Wilson (SapientNitro), Jim

McKeown (Clemenger BBDO), and Jonathan Drapes (Junior) for their involvement in tutoring

in Brisbane.

Says Davis: “The tutors are an imperative part of the AWARD School program and their expertise is a key element of preparing students for a future in the industry. We commend all the tutors, whose roles involve long hours and ongoing deadlines and demands.”

Sponsored by Google, AWARD School is a 16-week, part time course which runs from March

to July each year in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. The course,

which also runs in Auckland and Singapore, consists of a Monday evening lecture and a Thursday evening tutorial, held inside agencies by industry practitioners. To be accepted onto

the course, each applicant must submit a folio of work based on the brief set by the heads of

AWARD School. Students are selected purely on the merit of the ideas in their application.

The judging panel responsible for selection of the top students in Brisbane included Jonathan

Drapes (Junior) and Ralphie Barnett (SapientNitro).