Two Temerlin alumni win national competition

Jordan Chlapecka and Jenny Wagstaff, both Temerlin Advertising Institute alumni from the class of 2011, were announced on October 3 as two of the five national winners of The Big Ad Gig, an annual Advertising Week competition that invites aspiring copywriters and art directors to vie for a 30-day paid freelance position at one of the industry’s best agencies.

The competition drew approximately 90 hopefuls who filled out an application, submitted a portfolio, and then answered a randomly selected interview question in 60 seconds, using the cameras on their computers.

The interviews were taped and placed in an online video gallery for candidates to like, share and promote. Eight finalists were picked on Sept. 1 and received a brief from The Ad Council with an assignment to develop a social bullying prevention campaign targeted to parents of middle and elementary school children.

On October 3 in the New York Times Building, each finalist was given four minutes to present his or her solution to the Ad Council assignment in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. The event was moderated by Stuart Elliott, advertising columnist for The New York Times, and also streamed live on Facebook.

At the end of the event, the judges announced the five finalists who would be awarded 30-day paid art director or copywriter positions at one of the participating companies.

Chlapecka won a spot at Deutsch, and Wagstaff won a position at Ogilvy & Mather. The other three winners won jobs at co:Collective, Atmosphere Proximity and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky (CP+B).

“This is a fantastic opportunity to break into a young, fast moving creative industry,” said Chlapecka. “It’s really incredible that I got to have conversations with a lot of creative powerhouses, and I was truly flattered by their compliments.”

Judges for the competition included Stewart Krull, executive creative director of Atmosphere Proximity; Rob Reilly, worldwide chief creative officer of CP+B; Tiffany Rolfe, CP+B alum and current partner/chief content officer of co:collective; Calle Sjoenell, chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather; and Deutsch CEO Linda Sawyer.

The competition is presented by Atmosphere Proximity and The New York Times. The principal sponsor is Microsoft Advertising, and partners include The Ad Council, CP+B, Ogilvy, co:Collective and Deutsch.

For more information, visit www.thebigadgig.com.