UK Young Lions Competition 2025 – The Winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of the UK Young Lions Competition 2025.

We received over 180 entries and the work was of an incredibly high standard. This year the brief was to position the Media Business Course as the essential training course in media planning and pitching. We would like to thank all the entrants for taking part and our wonderful panel of judges for their valued feedback.

Below you can find our 12 winners and their winning work. Their prize is the opportunity to take part in the Global Young Lions Competition in Cannes.

DESIGN WINNERS

Amy Moore, Midweight Designer, That Lot

Amy is a designer at creative social agency, That Lot. With experience spanning from social-first content for global brands, to designing in-house at Joe & The Juice, various branding projects and everything in between. She is excited to take on a new challenge in Cannes!

Kiko Wu, Midweight Designer, That Lot

Kiko is a designer navigating the wild world of advertising — having taken on both agency life and a master’s in advertising at the same time (don’t try this at home, kids). Her work has appeared on brands like Adobe, Apple TV+, and Disney+. Now, Kiko’s heading to Cannes, armed with big ideas and SPF 50.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

We’re buzzing to represent the UK at Cannes and didn’t see this coming! We entered just to play, experiment, and see where the idea took us. Gave up the sun to work on Young Lions, and now we’re swapping that for a full week in Cannes. That’s a pretty f***ing good deal.

View their winning work here

DIGITAL WINNERS

Caroline Doyle, Creative, DEPT

Caroline is a Creative at DEPT, who thrives bringing bold ideas to life. Hooked on TV ads since her eyes could open, she slipped into the industry at 14 for a two-week thrill, and after six years of full-time giggles, she still can’t believe she gets paid to do this.

Tara Groot Wassink, Junior Creative, DEPT

Tara burst into the industry after a four-year stint studying Advertising, landing her first permanent role at DEPT. One year in, she’s still smashing it and totally gassed to represent the UK at Cannes.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

Going to Cannes is a huge deal for both of us, made even sweeter by the fact that we get to represent the UK on the global stage. It’s the cherry on top of an already outrageous opportunity – we’re still squealing!

View their winning work here

FILM WINNERS

Maud Hu, Midweight Designer, Sky Creative

Born in France, grew up in China, and now living in the UK, Maud started her career in Marketing, before making a big career change and joining Sky Creative a few years ago. Passionate about films, she now aims to build a career crafting stories through video editing.

Adriana Steinke, Assistant Producer, Sky Creative

Adriana fell in love with storytelling somewhere between film school and too many “this might be weird, but…” moments. With a background in directing and producing, she moved from Germany to the UK to make fun things for a living – creating for brands like Sky, Porsche, and Studio71, or wherever creativity finds a home.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

We’re beyond excited to be representing the UK at Cannes, not just to compete but to showcase what we love doing on a global stage. It’s a dream opportunity to challenge ourselves, surrounded by the most talented creatives in the world. We can’t wait to give it everything we’ve got.

View their winning work here

MARKETERS WINNERS

Madison Coghlan, Marketing Manager, Media, Deliveroo

A Kiwi who landed at Deliveroo in London in November 2023, Madi transitioned from the fitness world at Les Mills International to the dynamic realm of food and retail. As a Marketing Manager in Media, she thrives on great creative and new media innovations that deliver real impact.

Ashleigh Farrow, Marketing Manager, Media, Deliveroo

Ash, originally from Melbourne, Australia, has been embracing the fast-paced London lifestyle since September 2023. After transitioning from automotive marketing at Mercedes-Benz in both Australia and the UK, she’s now enjoying the dynamic variety of working at Deliveroo as a Marketing Manager in the media team.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

We are incredibly excited to win the UK Marketing Young Lions Gold, especially as an Antipodean duo in our adopted country. Having admired Cannes-winning work throughout our careers, we can’t wait to immerse ourselves in the creativity, be inspired by the best, and compete on a global stage.

View their winning work here

MEDIA WINNERS

Chloe Fanning, Director, Client Advice & Management, Initiative

My passion for media was driven through my career as a planner, starting as an apprentice at 19, working with some of Initiative’s top clients like NatWest. After an unsuccessful entry three years ago, I returned with excitement and hunger (especially with only a few years left of my 20s).

Amanda Aschebrock, Associate Director, Comms Design, Initiative

Having found my feet in media in 2019, I instantly knew it was what I wanted to do long term. Having recently moved from NZ, I’ve had the pleasure of working across a diverse range of clients, currently based in London Initiative, working on one of the UK’s biggest banks.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

We set out to keep Initiative’s winning streak alive—and we did it! Winning UK Young Lions feels surreal; we’re still pinching ourselves. We’re incredibly honoured to represent the UK at Cannes in June and present at the industry’s pinnacle event of the year. We can’t wait!

View their winning work here

PRINT WINNERS

Lydia Martin, Copywriter, Havas Lynx

A southerner up North, Lydia has been copywriting for over 6 years, 4 of which she’s spent with her Partner in Chrimes, Emily. Outside of copywriting, she can be found working on her pottery skills to try and become a mediocre but well-loved Great Pottery Throwdown contestant.

Emily Chrimes, Art Director, Havas Lynx

Nottingham born and bred; Emily is an art director / photographer / painter / woman who can’t sit still. She’s been crafting ads for over 7 years now and can be found with a camera or paintbrush in one hand, and the strongest coffee known to womankind in the other.

What does it mean to be representing the UK in the Global Young Lions Competition?

We’re dead excited to be the UK representatives at Cannes this year – frankly it still doesn’t feel real. We’ll let you know if it is once we’ve got the first of many Aperol Spritz’s in our hands (once we’ve aced the competition of course).

View the winning work here

View the UK Young Lions Runners-up work here