Kathryn Henning, IIE Creative Brand Communications degree third year student at Vega, shares their journey to London and how they came to join scores of Vega alumni who have put South Africa on the map for design and innovation.

To become a recipient of the prestigious Pencil Award, at the 2015 D&AD New Blood Awards, as well as to have your work showcased alongside some of the most talented creatives in the world, is a surreal experience that I don’t think any of us have truly grasped yet.

In July, three of us were fortunate enough to attend the awards ceremony in London, England. We arrived a day early and took some time out to really explore the city and take in as much of the amazing and awe-inspiring history that London had to offer.

The awards ceremony itself was nothing short of incredible. There were over a hundred young creatives crammed into a small room called the Village Underground. The atmosphere was abuzz with loud music, flashing lights, excitement, nervousness and enthusiasm. We made our way to a small table marked ‘Pantone’ where we stood amongst our fellow winners, nervously awaiting the results.

One by one they went through each category, announcing the winners for each brand. To make things easier and simpler they only announced the Yellow, White and Black Pencil winners, calling them to the front of the stage while their campaign video played on the big screen behind. For the rest of the winners, both Wooden and Graphite, our names were shown on the same screen. This was particularly nerve-wracking because you had to quickly read through about three slides of names with an obscured view through the crowd.

The names appeared quickly and we all had to look and see if our names were on the first few slides announcing the Wooden and Graphite Pencil winners. They were.

Our names all appeared neatly among our fellow recipients. We were excited, and because we knew the amazing calibre of the work we were up against, we embraced that it was an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the work we know is exceptional.

The experience was fun, exciting, and even better than anyone could put into words. However, it was the putting together of the integrated campaign, which won us this award, that we are most grateful for. We had so much fun bringing to life the concept, Making Yeoville Better in the Dark, by developing the area through glow-in-the-dark colours and bringing it back to the vibe that it was once renowned for.

We are grateful to Vega for entering our work into these awards, which give us an opportunity to be judged against other creative, design and advertising students work from around the globe. Vega students have been recipients of various awards at the D&AD’s since 2010. This is testament to the school's success in helping students unearth their true potential, as well as shaping and building some of South Africa’s leading young minds to make a lasting impact on the industry in the future.

We all worked hard for this award, and we would never have been able to get there had it not been for the dedication and effort behind the scenes from everyone at Vega. Mr Colin Morris deserves a special thank you for making a significant donation towards our trip, as well as for helping us with the concept development of a fundraising campaign.

Our campaign pushed boundaries and stood out from the crowd. Much as we will never forget our experience in London and will make sure to live up to the high standards we have set, the world will also continue to look to South Africa for creative talent.

Vega is a brand of The IIE, which is the country’s largest, most accredited provider of private education. The IIE is internationally accredited by the British Accreditation Council. Vega focuses on delivering highly skilled students that graduate work-ready.

For more information, visit www.vegaschool.com. Alternatively connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.