Media Design School wins 18 Awards, including only Gold in the Non-Professional (Student) Category at the MAD STARS 2023 Awards
Last week Media Design School picked up 18 Awards at the MAD STARS 2023 Awards, including the only Gold in the Non-Professional (Student) Category.
Says Kate Humphries, programme director for AdSchool at MDS: “Gold Awards in the Non-Professional Category at MAD STARS are like the Grand Prix awards of this category because they’re as rare as hen’s teeth. Last year there were only two awarded globally. This year there was only one. And that one shiny star, we’re very pleased to announce, was awarded to one of our MDS teams, Reece O’Gorman, and Lola Luo.
“As a demonstration of MAD STARS support for up-and-coming talent, Reese and Lola are pictured here onstage receiving their Gold MAD STARS award last Friday surrounded by the global judges. (Judges that clearly deserve an award themselves for having to determine the winners for the whole competition from the over 2,0000 submissions from 63 countries).”
In addition to winning the Gold this year, MDS also won a Silver, two Bronze and eight Crystal awards, making MDS once again the most awarded campus globally this year.
Says Humphries: “So, without further ado, let’s hear an ear-splitting cheer for Reece O’Gorman and Lola Luo for Linked Out, an idea which tackles ageism in the work force head on with a social-experiment-turned-Netflix -documentary. As well as winning this year’s solo Gold Award in the Integrated Stars category, Linked Out also won a Crystal Award in the Strategy Stars category.
“But before we leave Reese and Lola to bask in their glory, more congratulations are in order for both; because Reese together with James Sandham also scored a Crystal Award in the Integrated Stars category for eBay Weddings, an idea which encourages younger people to cancel the wedding industry by migrating their wedding spend to 2nd hand purchases on eBay; whilst Lola together with Lita Vatuvei, also picked up a Crystal Award in the Strategy Stars category for Where Books Sing, an idea for the launch of Spotify Audio Books which celebrates all the books that have inspired songwriters.
“Raucous cheers are in order for David Gillard & Anja Pienaar who followed up their D&AD Pencil win earlier this year with three more wins for the same idea at MAD STARS. So, take a well-deserved bow team for winning a Silver MAD STARS award in Data Insights Stars, a Bronze in the Design Stars and a Crystal in Viral Video Stars. All three wins are for their Heinz Take a Bloody Break idea, which encourages gamers to take a break by using ketchup blood to fake their own avatar’s death. Not content with those three bloody wins David and Anja also scored a Crystal in Integrated Stars for Living History in which museums celebrate the 25th anniversary of Google Search, by exploring the zeitgeist of historical moments through every question ever asked of Google.
“A standing ovation also goes out to Frey McMahon-Jones and Joe Fuando who won both a Bronze Award in Integrated Stars and a Crystal Award in Pivot Stars for Hidden Passages, an idea we’re not going to chat about here, because we’re currently chatting to an international agency about that idea.
“Some extra loud whoops to Lucy Yeaji Lim and Rose Heron for winning a Crystal award in the Integrated Stars Category for DisneyUsPlus, a tool on Disney+ which uses AI to regenerate the animation and voice of main characters in a Disney classic by selecting a different pronoun. More congratulations are in order for both Lucy and Rose who also won an award each for two very different ideas. Lucy together with George Adams won a Crystal in the Design Stars category for Heinz Gas Breakz, which uses the fact that baked beans gives you gas, to allow gamers to take a break in-game. And Rose together with Frederic Martini, who won a Crystal in Film Stars for Transitus, an idea which draws attention to abortion being a medical issue for women, by aborting the word abortion for a Latin word, because if there’s one thing the medical establishment loves- its Latin.
“Two ideas we couldn’t be more delighted about winning Crystal awards in Innovation Stars are Korowai, by Cullen Wilson and Olivia Walker, which uses coding about the feathers of NZ birds to cloak Māori works of art against AI mimicry; and Photogaiging by Lita Vatuvei and George Adams which uses AI to help maintain engaging conversations between dementia patients and their families. A high five also to Jack Becroft and Herman Ulberg for winning a Crystal Award in this category for Google GARage Project, which uses AR and actual garage doors to transfer street art onto Garage Project beer cans.
“A huge hurrah to Mibella Villafana and Vince Martins for PlayStation Spores which won a Crystal in the Interactive Stars Category for using high scoring gamers to guide the mass spread of fire-loving fungi spores that can regenerate land decimated by wild fires.
“And a final fist bump to James Sandham, Frederic Martini and Felix Ngahere for winning a Crystal in the SDG (Sustainability Development Goals) category for G-Shock on Call, an idea which uses the unbreakable G-Shock Watch to help out first responders who aren’t feeling so unbreakable in the wake of wave after wave of climate emergencies.
“We’re really pleased to have won so many awards this year that we hope help to fulfil the aim of MAD STARS to award ideas that combine creativity with cutting-edge technology to come up with solutions that contribute to humankind.
“We couldn’t have achieved any of these awards without the invaluable feedback from the industry. So, a very big and heart-felt shout-out to the industry guests who came in to critique specific projects: Kaz Maurice O’Leary, Innovation Director; Michael Tam, Global Design Director at IBM iX; Yvonne Leong, Experience & Business Director at IBM iX NZ; Lorenz Perry, Freelance Art Director currently at the Monkeys; and MDS’s own Industry Fellow, the inestimable Andy Blood. A massive thank you also to Tess Saxby for stepping so swiftly into the role of Art Direction tutor for 3 months.
“And to all our industry panellists from NZ, Australia and Germany, thank you for your invaluable feedback and creative direction which totally put all of the ideas above on steroids including Andy Wyeth (Serviceplan Cologne) Sylvia Humphries (Thinkerbell, Melbourne); Guy Trengrove (DDB Aotearoa); Rob Cook (Cheil NZ); Brad Stratton (Dentsu Creative); Rob Longuet (Dentsu Creative); Jack Close & Zac Hawkins (ColensoBBDO). Thank you one and all, we really couldn’t have done it without you.”
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