Y&R at the Caxton Awards

Ask anyone who has been, and they’ll tell you the Caxton Awards are something special. It’s an event exclusively for press advertising, established by one of Australia’s most celebrated authors – Bryce Courtenay.

This year the destination was The Sea Temple Resort and Spa in Port Douglas, so no complaints there. The speakers were varied and expert: Mark Buckman – Chief Marketing Officer of the Commonwealth Bank, John Silvester – Crime Writer, Renee Nowytarger – Photojournalist and of course David Droga to name a few. All entertained and many were inspirational.

Y&R Auckland had two finalists this year so myself, Matt Sellars and Cory Bellringer flew over to represent the team. On the night the top honours went to a full-page topical ad honouring Sir Edmund Hillary for client National Geographic. It was a deserving winner, relevant for the medium and well executed.

The evening rounded off with a Caxton special: The Talent Quest. This is where ‘volunteers’ stand up on stage and do something. Anything. You don’t have to have talent; in fact it would probably spoil your chances. There were many brave participants, but I think the one we’ll remember had 5 people in a line pass a raw egg to each other via their mouths to illustrate the creative process. Impressive.

All in all it was an excellent weekend, professionally run and lots of fun. The organisers have created a unique event that many have been going to for years. All that’s left is to crack on with some entries for next year.