“I was really impressed by the Big Bang Scheme and the creative talent expressed by the young people. It was inspiring to see so many senior creative leaders showing enthusiasm to hiring diverse, young talent.”

“The Big Bang internship is a fantastic initiative. It’s harder than ever for young people today to get into creative industries let alone those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The talent that we saw on the judging day was genuinely mind-blowing given the entries were from people who had no experience working in marketing or advertising. It made me super excited about these young talents and the amazing things they could do in the industry.”

“Our work with The Prince’s Trust means we understand the value in young people. We know just what they are capable of given the opportunity. The Big Bang scheme provides that chance. I was blown away by the creative thinking of these young, talented, spirited people who have had no experience in our field. I left energised and feeling better about the world.”

“The Big Bang Internship Awards is a great way for young people to get their foot in the door with the best agencies and most talented CCO’c and ECD’s in London. The calibre of entries goes from strength to strength each year. This year saw a wider range of skills from design to copywriting, from advertising to product invention. I was really impressed with the insights in some ideas and the execution in others. Everyone on the shortlist should be proud of what they have achieved.”

“Jurying at Big Bang was a great opportunity to see all the amazing, fresh talent. It was also inspiring to see all the innovative strategic thinking and well-articulated ideas that surfaced from a group of young talent with varied backgrounds. And it’s even better to see the industry support rising talent from such diverse backgrounds – it expands our industry's approach to tackling wider reaching creative executions.”

“It is always so exciting to see raw talent - before fatigue and cynicism sets in... I think the whole jury were blown away by the sheer energy and professionalism in the entries. And a few shifting uncomfortably in their seats as we had to keep being reminded that this talent have never ‘learnt’ the craft of advertising. Exciting times for our industry if this is the calibre of talent keen to come in.”

"The judging was really interesting. Normally, all those CDs and other top industry types would be at their most cynical and critical when gathered to judge. But Big Bang is different. The entrants are right at the beginning of their careers. We're all hoping to find a seed of genius, or few creative shoots of potential we could nurture into amazing talent. Nobody's the finished article. But we saw plenty of surprising and exciting ideas.”

“Where did they find them all? This year's Big Bang Awards was a mind boggling parade of weird and wonderful raw creativity. A reminder of just how much untapped brilliance there is out there.”

“What I like about the Big Bang Scheme is the totally eclectic nature of the entries. Because anyone from any background can enter the scheme it truly has 'no filter’. This can lead to some surprisingly great, raw work with some totally different thinking. It’s also good to watch industry peers talking with enthusiasm about emerging talent which is vitally important to our industry.”

“It was great to be involved in the Big Bang scheme. I was genuinely blown away by the quality of the work and the talent that we saw - the thinking and presentations were outstanding and there so many examples of amazing graphics, films and copy.”

“We saw such a wild mix of weird and wonderful ideas which is the absolute joy of a properly diverse creative pool. Thanks to Daniel Marks for introducing us to these new names, I’ve got my binoculars on two in particular.”

“The entries for the Big Bang project exceeded my expectations on every level, the professional approach in interpreting the creative brief was phenomenal, the application of the knowledge and the perspective of the marketing campaigns for the products was very insightful. It’s not often I get to witness first-hand the Millennial generation’s approach to HOW they would market a product, and there were many similarities in the approach and some interesting insights came out of the experience for me. A few I will most certainly be taking back with me to the office and applying in my campaigns going forward!”

“From flying sharks to buddhist symbology, Big Bang was full of beautifully diverse work that broke away from the student cliches.”

“It was such an honour to be asked to join the judging panel of the Big Bang 2016. Opening up the competition to all creatives from copywriters to art directors and even creative teams was really interesting. The work blew us away and it was a brilliant opportunity to see new talent bring the brief alive from different perspectives.”

“Creative departments need more diversity than ever before. It’s brilliant that The Big Bang initiative is here to help fuel that diversity. Some of the ideas I judged were at the sort of level I’d expect my own department to come up with.”

“It was my first time at the Big Bang and it didn’t disappoint. I was blown away with the calibre of ideas and creative execution across the board. The panel did a great job of sharing and bringing the ideas to life and it was refreshing to mix with such a broad mix of brands. Safe to say, we struggled to decide on an overall winner due to the quality of ideas. I’m looking forward to hearing who is crowned this year's rising star and choosing one of the young creatives to come and work with us.”

“It was fantastic to see so much creative inspiration and vision coming from individuals who just need to be given that one chance in life to showcase their work in the right way, which doesn’t come easily for many of them. It has certainly made me consider how we recruit for marketing newcomers going forward in our business.”

“I was blown away by the levels of creativity apparent in the entries. We saw such a breadth of differing ideas to the brief and the whole afternoon left me feeling incredibly excited about the future of the industry. We can't wait to have one of the candidates working with us at Havas SE Cake.”

“The Big Bang has been a brilliant way for Publicis to meet creative types who haven’t necessarily taken a traditional route into the industry. On enthusiasm and hard work alone the finalists deserve an internship. Luckily for us, they’re talented too.”

“The Big Bang is a brilliant opportunity for raw talent to get noticed. They are the future of what we do, so a project that enables young creatives from all walks of life to show off what they could bring gets my full support.”

“There is considerable young talent out there and the Big Bang scheme is a great way to offer young people opportunities they wouldn’t necessarily be able to access. It’s a great spring board for their future careers.”

“We're passionate about making the creative industries more open and diverse so it has been a joy to support and champion Big Bang this year to help unearth new talent from different walks of life. Working with thousands of leading brands and companies, we know first-hand that a more diverse workplace leads to better creative outcomes so we can't wait to see the positive result this scheme has for all involved.”

“We were delighted to have collaborated with Daniel Marks on the BigBang. Our Create Jobs programme is all about connecting young Londoners with amazing creative employment opportunities. We know the jobs are here, but access remains a real problem. We need more employers to open their doors more often. It’s through initiatives like the Big Bang Internship Scheme that we can connect the young Londoners we work with to exciting industry professionals like Radio 1 Extra. We look forward to working with Daniel Marks in the future and are very very pleased for our Rising Star, Anthony Morrison-Bowen.”

“The quality of work was outstanding, however, it's also important for the work to be judged through gender diverse perspectives. This year, working with Creative Equals, the jury was 50/50. Along with 'known names' like Caitlin Ryan (ECD, Cheil), L.A. Royanne (CD, Havas Workclub) and Becky McOwen-Banks (CD, FCB Inferno), the student's work was evaluated by upand - coming 'names to watch', including Tori Fannon (art director, Creature London), Rita Bourma (UX, Possible), Emma Scott-Robinson (CD, Razorfish) and Jen Hazelwood (CD, R/GA). All these senior female leaders are committed to dropping the ladder back down. That way the industry will have a strong pipeline of future female creative talent - and, more importantly, the mentors to shape them”

“We’re delighted not only with the quality of work we’ve been able to review from the young people who’ve answered the brief, but also the positive response we’ve had from our clients who have been so keen to support the initiative. Over fifty finalists now have a meeting with a leading agency or brand with a view to taking a paid Internship. This is a great result for everyone involved and shows the industry is as keen as we are to help tackle the key issues whilst giving young people an opportunity.”