Andrew McLaughlin Named Award School 2023 National Top Student

The announcement was made at tonight’s Gold Pencil Award Party, held at This Way Up at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which celebrated the year’s best creative work and brightest new talent.

Andrew was nominated ahead of more than 205 students from Australia and New Zealand. He receives a coveted AWARD School Black Pencil.

State finalists announced earlier this week include Shanice Love from New South Wales, Jamie Wyatt from Western Australia, Kelly Brightwell from Queensland, Rhys McMahon from South Australia and Brittney Angus from AWARD School’s online program. All students’ work is available to view on the AWARD School website.

Jeremy Willmot, Pete Saladino (Paper Moose), Riana McKenzie, Zoe Perrin (Clemenger BBDO) and Amy Peden and Tiana Gibbons-Campbell (Bullfrog) were named Tutor Agencies of the Year.

AWARD Chair Cam Blackley, chief creative officer, M&C Saatchi, described Andrew's portfolio as outstanding.

“Andrew’s work consistently showed flashes of brilliance and lateral thinking. It’s clear his creative tries to push beyond the first thought, dig deeper and stretch creative executions.

“The judges’ feedback was that he consistently showed non-traditional and intelligent thinking about how to tackle a problem, ideas that will certainly get attention, and that his book of work was one of the strongest.

“His portfolio stood out and for that reason he takes home 2023’s national top student prize,” he said. AWARD and Advertising Council Australia would like to thank this year’s school heads, tutors and speakers who continue to make the AWARD School program a success, and principal sponsor Meta, the official partner of AWARD School for the sixth consecutive year, for its ongoing support of the next wave of Australia’s creative talent.