Young Team of the Year...

That's Wilma (of Luke & Wilf) & Fellow YCC'er.

On Friday, I managed to wangle the day off work to pop down to the Newspaper Society's, Young team of the Year competition over at The London Art House. The building itself is pretty 'cool' and by 'cool' I mean quirky, weird and as pretentious as it could possibly be. The array of antique, well crafted furniture is somewhat harsh when compared against the polystyrene quality ceiling tiles, which scream of those school days as a child, only to have been given a lick of paint to blend into rest of it.

The judging panel was quite impressive, and set the day in good stead with the likes of Shaun McIlrath (ECD of Iris), Phil Kitching (DCD of Iris) Paul Belford (ECD of Thisisrealart), Tiger Savage (ECD of Tiger'sEye), Joe De Souza (CD of Karmarama), Sam Ball (CD of Lean Mean Fighting Machine), Stef Jones (CD of Big Al's Creative Emporium) & Robert Ray (MD of The Newspaper Society).

As I currently work as a solo creative, I teamed up with a friend Ciara to give the brief a good crack. It's always fun working with someone new. The brief as it turned out, was a good one, localised publicity for Mars and to increase the number of people knocking a ball around.

Our solution was all about heralding the Mars 'misfits' the band of arm chair spectators and 'past-it' types who can never find the time, nor organise a rabble of friends to get down and play. And thus, Mar Mismatches were born.

Hopefully, I'll give you a glimpse of some fine scamps at some point. But unfortunately, a flooding at the Newspaper Society's office has meant all of the work has been destroyed - A likely story, I hear you say... I KID YOU NOT, this is the truth! An email from Mary Isokariari confirms this.

(Click to Enlarge)

As always, there were some lovely folk who I could finally put names to faces with and find out what fellow creatives are up to across the industry. A good turn out from the Young Creative Council with the usual bunch out for blood.

This was the after-brief venue... a seedy back room, which I believe doubles up as a lap dance club. Nice. Oo-er. Free bar though, can't complain too much, I guess. Hats off to Julia & Polo who go on to represent UK talent at The Best YET competition in Croatia for the second year running & Of course Dave Wigglesworth & his partner for a close runner up.