Young Guns 2023: The future is in good hands

By Run’s Laura Cibilich: Designers, filmmakers, photographers, illustrators, and other incredible creatives were honoured on stage by the legendary Debbie Millman last week at One Club’s Young Guns Award show. Run co-founder Laura Cibilich was the only jury member from Aotearoa. Here she shares some of her insights …

This year, I was fortunate enough to have a front-row seat to the best, young talent in our industry, from around the globe.

Young Guns entrants must be under 30 and submit a portfolio of six projects, of which two can be personal projects. Most include videos and multiple images. With over 400 entries this year, I lost count of how many hours I spent judging … but it was a lot.

Judging consisted of four massive rounds, all online. With the final round, all the judges from around the world came together on a video call (in the wee hours of the morning for me).

After narrowing it down to 85 incredible finalists and then more intense deliberation, the Young Guns jury settled on 29 winners.

There was such a wide range of roles entered, from type designers, to copywriters, even editors and colourists. It was great to see a diversity of cultures and identities coming through in the entrants, but of course I’m always eager to see more.

Many projects and creatives moved away from the traditional ad space, including more work in the social good categories that clearly hoped to drive real change. Themes included disability, pride, gender equality, culture, taboos and animal welfare. There were plenty of nods to climate change and sustainability, although some came across as more genuine (and well researched) than others.

These were mixed in with the more old-school approach to advertising commercial products and big brands.

It was interesting seeing how many entries pushed the boundaries of traditional advertising, in both good and bad ways. As expected, there were innovative uses of tech, including geo caching, facial recognition and of course, AI

 A nice contrast of traditional crafts too – including winner, clay animator and director, Alistair Nicholls.

“I noticed a strong trend of men confidently talking themselves up (far too confidently in some cases), and women generally coming across with too much humility.”

Also among the winners were a number of creative duos, including filmmaking brothers, Julien and Justen Turner, aged just 21 and 25, whose work was outstanding.

Big budgets were evident in a lot of work, the likes of which would be the envy of many of us here in Aotearoa.

Personal projects especially were on another level to what we might see here, some of them two years in the making, with a credit list of over 50 people. Unfortunately, where projects had a long list of credits, it was hard to discern the entrant’s role.

One thing I didn’t expect was that the bios submitted with the entries would be so personal. Many people shared really intimate stories, so you could see the real person coming through.

Another observation, and perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, but I noticed a strong trend of men confidently talking themselves up (far too confidently in some cases), and women generally coming across with too much humility.

A reminder to all wāhine in our industry – you’re allowed to celebrate and talk about your strengths.

This didn’t stop some outstanding women from being recognised though, such as Mischelle Moy who received the Young Guns 21 Creative Choice Award. Moy, who is also this year’s winner of The One Club Colorful grant program for BIPOC creatives, is a Brooklyn-born-and-based digital artist and product photographer. She stood out as having a truly unique voice and perspective – I loved her work.

Overall, I came away understanding that the next generation coming through are comfortable being open and vulnerable.

They’re using visual storytelling and design to express themselves authentically, and they’re already capable of an impressively high standard of work.

The future of our industry is in good hands.

• View all Young Guns 21 winners here: oneclub.org/awards/youngguns

About Run
Run is a Māori-owned, wāhine-led, globally-awarded creative agency. Formed in 2008, Run focuses on creating quality design and advertising solutions for brands, organisations, iwi and government.

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