The Association of Practitioners Advertising (APA) has announced the winners of its Young Creatives Challenge (YCC). The challenge is a key highlight of the APA Week, a permanent calendar fixture bringing together the best innovative minds from the creative industry for a festival of networking, inspiration and sharing insights required to drive brand growth.
This year’s Young Creative Challenge received more than 200 applications from Kenyans aged 21–29 years who were shortlisted to 24 teams of 2. Out of 24 shortlisted applicants in round one, 12 teams made it to the finals.
The winning team was Mind Benders with Teresa Makori as Copy Writer and Jeremy Mwangi as Art Director.
First runners-up was Team Ideas without Legs, comprising of Copy Writer, Shamik Minesh Mehta and Art Director, Romy Nawab.
Second runners-up was taken by a team comprising of Michael Muraya and Anthony Wafula.
The winning teams received a cash prize and internship opportunities from EABL, the event’s key sponsor.
“This award has significantly validated our efforts and being in this space with other creatives has exposed us to the demands of the advertising industry in a way we’d never have experienced if we didn’t participate,” said Teresa Makori from the winning team.
The event was organized in partnership with the International School of Advertising (ISA) and was sponsored by East African Breweries (EABL). YCC allows the participants to tap into any aspect of creativity to solve real-life marketing communication challenges innovatively and confidently in front of a panel of judges.
“The most important skill built throughout this process is development of a strong IDEA that will drive the communication campaign. In an industry that is male dominated, we were excited that 50% of the applicants were women. Also, unlike in 2019 where most participants were from advertising, this time we received applicants from diverse backgrounds including Sound engineering, content producers, film and even vloggers,” says Susan Makau, Founder of ISA.
The 2020 Young Creatives Challenge was presided over by two Chief Judges and 12 judges who acted as industry mentors selected from various marketing agencies and media houses including BBDO, Dentsu , Ogilvy, WPP Scangroup as well as shops like Bean Interactive and Media houses like Royal Media Services (RMS) and Capital FM .
In his closing remarks at the YCC 2020, Associate Chief Judge Alemu Emuron said, “This year’s challenge was diverse and included non-creative participants. I urge senior creatives to support upcoming talent and young talented creatives to start preparing for the 2021 competition.”
According to a 2020 Investing in Creativity United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report, the cultural and creative industries currently provides nearly 30 million jobs worldwide. The industry employs more people youth than any other sector.