30 under 30 - The winners

Media Week presents this year's winners, one of whom will go on to win the media industry's Rising Star of the Year accolade.

The past year has been tough for all sectors of media; never before has the industry had to demonstrate such a proactive, creative and courageous attitude.

That is why the judges of this year's 30 under 30 young media talent competition were looking for qualities that went beyond "solid"; they were seeking to identify the "steering wheels", rather than the "cogs", of the industry - those with the vision, energy and pace to force change from deep within a business.

The judging panel featured the expertise of Lara Ashworth, talent director at ZenithOptimedia; Diane Murphy, head of people development at Omnicom; and Tim Jones, HR director at Aegis Media UK & Ireland. Paul Farrer, chairman of PFJ, and Kathleen Saxton, a founding partner of Grace Blue, represented recruitment firms, while David Emin, ad director of Mirror Group Newspapers, gave a media owner perspective.

The entries that stood out from the pool of 120 submissions, says Ashworth, were those that "showed a passion for sharing their talent, either through developing more junior staff or contributing to industry thinking and wider projects".

Saxton adds: "The 30 under 30 contest is about identifying the outstanding, so while many entries fell quickly by the wayside, we were equally excited to find individuals who are about to break through to become the leaders of the future."

Here we present this year's 30 under 30, one of whom will go on to win the overall Rising Star of the Year award at the Media Week Awards in October. Read on to see why Ashworth describes our winners as "an exceptional and impressive group".

For more details on all our winners see Media Week magazine (28 July)

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk