Creative Advertising graduates Luke Grey and Viktoria Olah have won an award from the well-respected D&AD New Blood Festival for work tackling the lack of LGBT role-models among under-18s.
 

The pair, who graduate next month, took part in a ‘Pitch-Off’ at the Festival in London and won a ‘One To Watch’ award after presenting their ideas for a campaign around the topic lobbying programme makers and media companies to 25-30 head creatives and creative directors.
 

Luke said the idea would be for mainstream media such as Disney and Netflix to introduce healthy LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters in to their main story lines, showing representation.
 

He said: “Our idea is ‘Being gay doesn’t start at 18’ which focuses on the fact that there is no or little representation under the age of 18 for LGBT characters in TV shows, films and media.
 

“This means that as a younger child being LGBT isn’t seen as being normal and could be argued to lead to people repressing their feelings.
 

“Our overall thought is that introducing a few healthy LGBT characters in to children’s TV shows would make being LGBT a lot less unsettling.”
 

See their script and ideas at: https://www.vikiandluke.com/netflix-lgbt.
 

Luke added: “Receiving ones to watch is an incredible achievement and we know that we put lots of effort into crafting the thought and idea but also ensured that we adhered to the mantra of practice, practice and practice more.
 

“We had a lot to say in a really small time limit so it was crucial that we knew what we were saying.
 

"We performed it like a duo, where we bounced off each other and shared sentences.
 

"The feedback we received from the judges was that this was one of the reasons they picked us as we seemed confident and learnt what we needed to say incredibly well. We didn’t stumble on words and we also spoke clearly.
 

“The judges also liked the fact that we spoke about a topic close to ourselves and with passion which made them also believe our idea.”
 

Luke paid tribute to the students’ education at Bucks preparing them for the competition. “One reason we performed so well on the stage is because of our time at Bucks studying Creative Advertising,” he added.
 

“On the course we had numerous workshops where we had to perform in front of the class but also had opportunities to present in front of creatives in advertising agencies too.
 

“We also had confidence classes, comedy workshops and presentation surgeries.”

 

Luke said he and Viki were now living in London and working on their ‘book’ of their portfolio and trying to see as many people in the industry to gain placements and pursue a career in advertising.
 

He added: “Hopefully you’ll find us soon in a London creative agency making amazing ads or even see them on a bus going past you!” 
 

Course Leader Julie Wright said: “I am extremely proud of Luke and Viki and I see a fantastic career ahead of them.
 

"They have taken advantage of the opportunities offered through the degree at Bucks and are a fine example of the calibre of graduates from the course.”