Entries open for 2025 NGEN Award

Young media professionals can now enter the 2025 NGEN Award and work on a real brief that could become a national campaign for a charity.

The announcement:

Entries are officially open for the 2025 NGEN Award, giving emerging media talent the chance to tackle a real brief from a real charity – and potentially turn it into a real campaign seen across Australia.

Now in its 15th year, The NGEN Award is a unique category of the MFA Awards for media professionals with less than five years’ experience. It’s a launchpad for our industry’s up-and-coming talent to make a genuine impact, flex their strategic and creative muscles, and gain career-defining experience.

This year’s brief comes from Share the Dignity, a charity dedicated to helping women, girls and people who menstruate who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, domestic violence or poverty.

Shortlisted teams will be invited to NGEN Award Day on 27 August – a live pitch session where they’ll present their ideas to a judging panel comprised of MFA Board directors and senior industry leaders. The experience offers invaluable feedback in presenting and thinking on your feet – a must for any future leader in media.

A free Strategy & NGEN Award Kick-Off Webinar is being held tomorrow Thursday 12 June, at 10am AEST, to help entrants decode the brief, uncover insights and build a solid strategic response. The webinar will be available to view on the MFA website for those who can’t attend.

– Register for the Strategy & NGEN Award Kick-Off Webinar here: https://ngen.org.au/component/eventbooking/workshop/579-strategy-webinar
–  Download the brief and get started: https://www.mediafederation.org.au/images/2025/MFAAwards/2025_NGEN_x_MFA_Brief_FINAL50.pdf

Previous NGEN Award winning entries have gone on to become actual campaigns, such as 2022 winners Ben Breden and Olivia Coxon from Initiative, who transformed their idea into a national fundraising campaign for youth mental health charity batyr, supported by 19 media partners and $1.3 million in donated media. Melanie Aslanidis, Head of NGEN, said: “The NGEN Award offers emerging media talent a rare opportunity to respond to a real brief and gain exposure to senior industry leaders. It’s about building strategic capability, sharpening presentation skills and accelerating career growth – all while contributing to a meaningful change for a worthy cause.”

To be eligible, entrants must be registered NGEN members with less than five years’ experience.

Key NGEN Award dates:

Today, 11 June: NGEN Award Entries Open

• 12 June: Strategy & NGEN Award Kick-Off Webinar, 10am AEST
• 23 July: Entries Close
• 26 August: Shortlisted teams notified by phone that they’ve made it through to the Live Round
• 27 August: NGEN Award Day – live presentations to judges
• 18 September: Winners announced at the MFA Awards gala event, Randwick Racecourse, Sydney

The 2025 MFA Awards sponsors are:

• Grand Prix: Seven

• Platinum: Meta, Outdoor Media Association, SBS

• Gold: Ad Standards, News Corp Australia, OzTAM, Pinterest, YouTube

• Silver: Foxtel Media, Nielsen

Source: MFA Comms