SAATCHI NZ LEADS AWARD FINALIST PACK

Following two weeks of intense judging with a total of 83 judges participating, AWARD celebrates a total of 360 finalists, up by 52 on last year. Saatchi & Saatchi lead the finalist tally with an impressive 24 acceptances, followed by BMF Sydney and Saatchi Singapore with 17 apiece. DDB New Zealand, Publicis Mojo Auckland and The Sweet Shop, Auckland each had 10 finalists.
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FULL LIST OF FINALISTS

Australia has 157 finalists, compared to a 160 in 2006. New Zealand has 102, up by 15 from last year. Asia recorded an outstanding surge with 101 this year, up by 50 on 2006. This is a reflection of the large increase of entries from Asia this year in particular from China, Malaysia, The Philippines and Singapore.
Toby Talbot, Chairman of Judges, says: “I want to thank everyone involved in chairing the juries and the tireless work of the organisers, led by Lucy Mckee and her team. When you consider that over 50 judges flew in from interstate and overseas this year, the AWARD management have done a great job ‘herding cats’.
"The judges were evenly split between Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This has resulted in a more balanced, more outward looking Award show. The feedback from each jury has been really positive. The judging, though rigorous, was refreshingly free of politics.
"Not only did we have more entries this year, we also had 52 more finalists than last year. It appears our industry is in pretty good shape. If you’re one of the finalists, congratulations because you’ve done something bloody good. If you go on to win more on the night of November 30th, then you’ll be fully entitled to broach that pay rise with your CD. This year, we have an exciting new venue for the AWARD Awards Presentation Evening, the stunning CarriageWorks. We will have some great and worthy winners on the night. I hope the industry turns out in force to applaud them all.”

FINALIST LEAGUE TABLE:
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand - 24
BMF Sydney – 17
Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore - 17
Exit Films, Melbourne - 12
DDB New Zealand - 11
@radical.media Sydney - 10
McCann Erickson Kuala Lumpur - 10
Ogilvy & Mather Beijing - 10
Publicis Mojo Auckland - 10
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia – 10
The Sweet Shop Auckland - 10
Leo Burnett Bangkok - 9

The AWARD Awards Presentation Evening is being held on Friday 30th November 2007 at CarriageWorks at Eveleigh Rail Yards, Eveleigh. Tickets will go on sale next week. For bookings please visit www.awardonline.com. All AWARD Members and Non Members welcome.