From left : Jenith Liyanagoda – Ogilvy Media, Sharon Jaysundara – 4As President, Sachintha Gunawardena – Ogilvy Media, Thushari Pallipane, Johanns Rogers – Neo@Ogilvy , Ranil De Silva – Managing Director of Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan representative for the Spike Asia Festival, Dulaj Perera, Chanuka Herath, Laila Gunesekara – IAA President, Tuan Meedin. Seated (from left): Sarah Hassanally, Dilendri Wettewe, Nonmin Yasith Dayaathne, Sashi Kapugamage

Eight outstanding young professionals from Sri Lanka’s advertising industry and two students have been selected to represent the country at the annual Young Spikes 2017 & Cheil Young Creative Academy at Spikes Asia 2017 from 27th to 30th September at the Suntec City. 

These 10 youngsters walked away with key honours at the local competition, where a high standard of competition from the industry was witnessed. The local competitions were conducted in Colombo under the auspices of Metal Factor in partnership with the industry.

The winners of the Young Spikes Digital Competition was won by Shashie Kapugamage and Johanns Rogers from Neo@Ogilvy Sri Lanka, whose brief was for the ‘Monetization of Air Pollution’. In the Integrated competition section, Chanaka Herath & Nonim Dayarathne from Geometry Global, delivered a winning campaign in response to a brief titled ‘Whistleblowers & Protesters’. The Media Competition had two minimum teams comprising Sachintha Gunawardena & Jenith Liyanagoda from Ogilvy Media and Sarah Hassanally and Dilendri Wettewe from Leo Burnett Sri Lanka who responded to the brief on the topic of ‘LGBT- Q’.

The placement to the Cheil Young Creative Academy were secured by Dulaj Perera from the University of Moratuwa, Faculty of Design and Tuan Meedin from the Academy of Multimedia Design & Technology (AMDT). 

These two young students will have the opportunity to attend the Young Creative Academy, which is an in-depth training programme that is made available to a small selection of students from the region. The three-day programme provides students with the opportunity to attend exclusive seminars and tutorials, where they can learn from top industry professionals and gain valuable international exposure.

Commenting on this year’s Spikes Asia winners, Ranil de Silva, the Sri Lankan Representative for the Spikes Asia Festival said, “It gives me great satisfaction to see the overwhelming response we receive from the young professionals in the industry to participate in the local competition. Their enthusiasm and above all else their creativity augurs well for the future of the industry. I extend my congratulations to these young professionals on their success. I am confident that they will excel at the Young Spikes Asia Competitions in Singapore, and bring recognition for Sri Lanka.”