The winner of this year’s DMA Breakthrough Award was revealed at London’s Old Billingsgate during the DMA Awards night. The University of Gloucestershire’s Alis Hâf Rees and Amy Armstrong-Jeffery took home first place, leaving with a cash prize of £1,000, a paid internship at a top agency and the award.
Alis Hâf Rees and Amy Armstrong-Jeffery were up against students from 11 different Universities from across the UK, all responding with their own marketing plan for The Economist, this year’s Award sponsor. Their ‘To be read’ campaign was victorious thanks to their understanding of the challenge set out in the brief and presenting a campaign to the judges that they felt could genuinely be used by The Economist.
Cordell Burke, joint chair of the Graeme Robertson Trust (GRT), explains: “This year’s finalists all really excited the judges, showing maturity far beyond their years. However, the winners showed an ability to understand the brief, respond to feedback and questioning, and presented it in front of the panel of industry experts with aplomb. Ultimately, they understood what their campaign needed to do and they did it.”
This year’s second place winner, taking home £500 cash, is Jennifer Grieve and Sam Haynes from Edinburgh College, while third place and £250 went to Southampton Solent University’s Ash Kinsella and Steph Brown.
Kate Burnett, MD of DMA-IDM Employability, said: “We receive entries from all over the UK and this year we were particularly impressed with the level of understanding of the brief and amount of work they had clearly put in to every facet of their entries. If this Award is a peak into the future of our industry and the next generation of talent, then I’m tremendously excited about the level of creativity and drive coming through.”
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