The AAA School of Advertising in partnership with YFM has started on a five-week campaign called the AAA/YFM Copywriting Challenge to find bright young people with a gift for creativity and the written word.
The competition-based initiative aims to educate South Africa’s youngsters about the job opportunities within the advertising profession and to kick-start their career in the exciting world of copywriting. The competition culminates in the overall winner receiving a highly coveted two year Copywriting Diploma bursary at the AAA, valued at more than R100 000.
Principal of the AAA School of Advertising, Dr. Ludi Koekemoer explains, “In South Africa, the deep pools of copywriting talent dwindled long ago, not only for vernacular and Afrikaans, but English copywriting as well – leaving the advertising profession in a difficult position. The advertising profession seeks qualified, talented young copywriters to join the exciting world of advertising and we believe that this competition driven by a media partner such as YFM will assist us in identifying and mentoring copywriting talent. We’re really excited to find our young stars and assist them in fast-tracking their career in advertising.”
The challenge started on 17 September where listeners enter by writing a creative 30 second radio ad about themselves.
The YFM website and social media platforms are set to play a significant role throughout the campaign as listeners can participate only by logging onto the site and the social media platforms to follow links to enter the competition and submit copy.
A secret panel of copywriting experts has been selected for the competition elimination process, screening and selecting finalists based on consistent demonstration of “rare raw talent”.
On Monday the 1 October 2012, the YFM Morning Show host Mo Flava will announce the Top 10 finalists on-air, followed by the next leg of the competition where finalists will be tasked with writing either a radio spot or TV script at the AAA campus in Randburg.
On Monday 8 October 2012 the Top Five finalists will be announced on air and will be given the opportunity to personally tell the nation about the task they had to fulfill, what qualified them to be chosen for the Top Five ranking and their hopes for winning the life changing bursary.
The third and final round is the toughest part of the competition, with participants having to convince the panel of copywriting experts.
To promote the first of its kind competition, AAA have booked on-air promos on YFM’s popular “Flava In The Morning” show hosted by Mo Flava, aimed to inform the audience that a surprise Live Crossing will be held at the winner’s current high school, previous school or at the AAA campus.
During the campaign the YFM website will be geared to showcase all participants’ profiles and the work they have entered to date. The YFM technical team will cover the exciting moments at the competition finale on Friday 19 October 2012. Photos of the winner will be posted across all digital platforms and remain on the YFM website for a week after the competition has closed.
Current AAA students cannot enter the competition and the winner needs to be available to enroll at AAA in 2013. For further details and terms and conditions of the AAA Advertising Copywriting Competition, visit www.aaaschool.co.za
