Emerging media talent recognised with NGEN Award 2025 finalists announced

Six emerging media professionals have been named finalists for the 2025 NGEN Award, following a live presentation round in Sydney and Melbourne.

Of the 16 entrants who pitched their responses to a charity brief, six were selected as the NGEN Award finalists.

Tania Teurquetil, Havas Media
Joe Douglas and Ashutosh Matai, Initiative
Jesse Urquhart and George Hulley, iProspect
Ashley Hill, Match & Wood

The NGEN Award, now in its 15th year, is part of the MFA Awards and is open to media professionals with less than five years’ experience.

This year, entrants were challenged with a brief from Share the Dignity, which supports women, girls and people who menstruate who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, domestic violence or poverty.

Candidates had 24 hours to prepare their presentations before pitching to judges, testing both strategic and creative skills under pressure.

Rochelle Courtenay, Founder of Share the Dignity, said: “Participating in the NGEN Award has been a game changer for our charity. There were nuggets of gold in every brief response.

"NGEN members brought an incredible level of creativity and passion to the task, which is not only helping raise awareness of period poverty but is also demonstrating the power of collaboration in driving real social impact.”

Melanie Aslanidis, Head of NGEN, added: “The NGEN Award is all about giving young media professionals the chance to stretch themselves while also making a positive impact, and this year they more than delivered.

"To see them step up with such confidence and creativity – on a 24-hour deadline – shows how much talent and determination is coming through in our industry. They are true Changers and I couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve achieved."

The NGEN Award has a history of turning winning ideas into live campaigns. In 2022, Initiative’s Ben Breden and Olivia Coxon developed a fundraising campaign for youth mental health charity batyr, backed by 19 media partners and $1.3 million in donated media.

The six 2025 finalists will now move forward in the competition, with the winner to be announced at the MFA Awards later this year.

The winners will be announced at the MFA Awards on 18 September at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney.

The 2025 MFA EX sponsors are:

Grand Prix: Seven
Platinum: Meta, Outdoor Media Association, SBS
Gold: Ad Standards, News Australia, Nine, OzTAM, Pinterest, Samsung Ads, YouTube
Silver: Cairns Crocodiles, Commercial Radio & Audio, Foxtel Media, Nielsen

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