Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, DDB and FINCH were among the big winners at the 46th annual AWARD Awards as part of This Way Up, the annual creative festival in Sydney.
Creative studio Bear Meets Eagle On Fire took home 8 golds across 4 pieces of work and was named Individual Agency of the Year.
DDB was crowned Agency Network of the Year, winning 9 golds across 5 campaigns, with 6 for DDB Aotearoa and 3 for DDB Australia.
FINCH was awarded Production Company of the Year Award, having been credited on the most awarded entries across the show.
Motion Sickness and FINCH won the Grand Award for Make New Zealand The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes, which also collected 4 golds.
Other winners included production company Revolver, which picked up 4 golds; while VML Australia, Special Australia, Wolf BKK, and It’s Friday, all with 2 golds; and Supermassive, TBWA\ Media Arts Lab Australia and Sonar Music all picked up 1.
The Best B2B Campaign, sponsored by LinkedIn, was won by Supermassive and FINCH for 36 Months.
Jury President Nils Leonard said: “Sometimes the best work does exactly what it shouldn’t. This work isn’t trying to fit into algorithms; it slices through them, using brash and childlike patter to make an important and grown-up point. The best work does more than answer a brief but becomes a reference point for a time; this stuff has that energy. Irreverent. Unignorable. Important”.
Mandie van der Merwe, AWARD Chair, said: “Congratulations to every gold, silver and bronze winner at this year’s AWARD Awards. You’ve earned serious bragging rights across APAC and probably given your creative rivals a few wounds to lick. Your work didn’t just stand out; it made us lean in, moved us, and inspired action.
“A huge shout-out to our Special Awards winners as well. You’re at the pointy end of creativity, setting the benchmark for the work AWARD champions and celebrations in this part of the world.
“The AWARD Awards remain the most prestigious creative show in our region thanks to our world-class judges.
“My heartfelt thanks to our jury president, Nils Leonard, our jury chairs, and every judge who gave their time, energy and strong opinions freely, debating vigorously to uphold AWARD’s exacting standards for recognising creative excellence year after year.”