Kellie Campbell-Illingworth and Jef Wong represent Australia & New Zealand on Young Guns 23 jury

Young Guns 23 - Kellie Campbell-Illingworth and Jef Wong (2)

The competition identifies and celebrates today’s vanguard of young creative professionals.

A pair from Australia and New Zealand will serve on the jury for the global Young Guns 23 competition, joining more that 100 creative professionals from around the world as announced by The One Club for Creativity.

Kellie Campbell-Illingworth (YG8), creative director from Parallax in Adelaide, and Jef Wong, ECD at Designworks in Auckland join the Young Guns jury which identifies and celebrates today’s vanguard of young creative professionals.

The renowned competitions regularly attract entries from upwards of 45 countries, with more than half coming from outside the US.

Levine/Leavitt, a long-time YG partner, will once again offer its Artists-in-Residence Award in which the artist rep firm provides one YG winner with a full year of artist and career management representation.

Also continuing this year is the Levine/Leavitt Young Guns Assistance Program, open to illustrators and photographers who qualify for YG23 but may not have the means to enter with ease. Successful applicants receive free entry into the competition courtesy of Levine/Leavitt.

All Young Guns winners receive a unique version of the iconic Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the Young Guns website.

Winners also receive a complimentary one-year One Club for Creativity membership, permanent membership in the Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in Young Guns events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from Young Guns sponsors.

Young Guns 23 - Kellie Campbell-Illingworth and Jef Wong (2)

The program is open to those ages 30 and under who have been working for at least two years, full-time or freelance. Eligible entrants can submit a combination of professional and personal work via online entry system until the final deadline of September 18, 2025. Winners will be announced in December.

Past Young Guns include rising stars who went on to become leaders in their chosen fields, including Oscar-winning film director duo DANIELS (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) (YG14), “Top Gun Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski (YG4); graphic designers James Victore (YG1), Stefan Sagmeister (YG1), Natasha Jen (YG4) and Jessica Walsh (YG8); artist/designer Rich Tu (YG8); ad creatives Rei Inamoto (YG4) and Menno Kluin (YG6); illustrators Christoph Niemann (YG2) and Deanne Cheuk (YG4); fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond (YG14); artist/filmmaker Calmatic (YG16); director/photographer India Sleem (YG17); photographer Ryan McGuinness (YG2); typographers Alex Trochut (YG6) and Gemma O’Brien (YG13); and animation artist Todd St. John (YG1)/

Program branding and design of the Young Guns Cube award itself are reimagined each year by a past Young Gun winner. This year’s branding was created by YG23 jury member Khyati Trehan (YG19), a talented graphic designer and 3D visual artist originally from New Delhi who now serves as senior designer at Google Creative Lab in New York.

The One Club for Creativity is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community.

It is known for for The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) awards, ONE Asia Awards, Type Directors Club and competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, Young Ones Student Awards, Next Creative Leaders, ONE Screen Short Film Festival.

Top image: Kellie Campbell-Illingworth and Jef Wong

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