Josh Edwards (left in photo below) has been awarded Top of Class at the 2015 AWARD School NSW graduation ceremony, which took place at The Loft in Sydney on Wednesday. As part of the program, Edwards was tutored by two agencies Josie Fox and Dan Barrett (JOY) and Scott Mortimer (OGILVY).
Close to 300 industry professionals, sponsors, and graduates came together to celebrate the graduation of more than 100 NSW students who have now completed the preeminent training program for aspiring creatives and art directors in Australia and New Zealand.
Certificates were handed out by Ray Black, Chairman of AWARD and founder of AWARD School 33 years ago.
Top 10 Students:
1st place – Josh Edwards
2nd place – Chris Nguyen
3rd place – Adam Burns
The final seven graduates to make the NSW top ten, in no particular order, include:
Rachel Corbett
Jake Davies
Zachary Goldberg
Raman Goraya
David Little-Jones
Michael Watts
Nancy Zhou
Preparing the graduates for the next step in their careers, AWARD Chairman, Mark Harricks (Executive Creative Director at VCCP Sydney) said: “The standard of work this year has been extremely impressive. There are people in this room who will go on to become industry leaders. Creativity in business has never been more important. Our industry, and the way creativity is being applied, is in a constant state of change. For those creatives who ride creative chaos adeptly, it’s an exciting time to be entering. Welcome and enjoy the ride!”
NSW AWARD School Heads Pete Ogden (creative director), June Laffey (executive creative director, McCann Health) and Simon Jarosz, (creative director, Toast Creative) congratulated the 2015 students on their work and achievements and thanked the tutors for their enthusiasm and commitment.
Ogden said: “It was a big relief when we got through final judging and saw the quality on display. There was some work that was genuinely amazing. It bodes well for our industry.”
AWARD graduation ceremonies are still set to take place in Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth in August. Dates for the upcoming ceremonies are as follows:
Adelaide Thursday 6 August
Brisbane Thursday 6 August
Perth Friday 14 August
AWARD School will also run in Auckland and Tasmania in July.
