AdFocus Awards 2024 student finalists have been announced

All three of the student finalists in 2024 hail from the Mother City.

They are Nicole Thikeson and Jess Hattingh from the Cape Town Creative Academy and Catelin Plomaritis from the Red & Yellow Creative School.

The winner will be announced at the AdFocus Awards ceremony on November 27 at Empire Place.

For this award each school or university enters its top three students. The entries are judged by a jury made up of some of the top creatives in the industry.

The judges were impressed with the innovation and creativity of the entries all round. “All the students showed great skill in their craft. The work was on a very high level,” they said.

The finalists stood out because of their unique style and interpretation of the brief, and by where they took the brief.

There was a lack of diversity in the entries, but the jury acknowledged that this happens at other student awards as well. “It shows that the industry needs to make a greater effort to bring more diversity into the industry at school level,” they said.

This year’s jury included Luca Gallarelli, group CEO of TBWA\South Africa and AdFocus Awards chair 2024; Pippa Misplon, MD, Retroviral; Firdous Osman, group MD, Boomtown; Thabang “Tipi” Manyelo, creative director, The Odd Number; Kagiso Tshepe, executive creative director, Grid Worldwide; Noelle Hardy, creative director, Tukio Media; and Dean Oelschig, MD, Halo.

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