Q&A with Tom Wordley – 2018 UK Young Lion Print winner

Tom Wordley is 2018 UK Young Lion Print winner. In this Q&A session, he discusses the realities of entering the prestigious competition, and doles out advice to entrants to the 2019 Young Lions competition.

Why did you enter UK Young Lions?

Why wouldn’t I? It’s tremendous fun, costs nothing, over as quick as it starts, and if you’re lucky enough, you get a free trip to Cannes.

Any good stories from previous years?

One year myself and Jon Webb entered whilst I was on a stag do. We had an hour at King’s Cross station before I travelled to York. While the drinks were flowing, so were the ideas. I was proofing work on my phone hundreds of miles away from my partner. We didn’t win, but the ad did run in the London Underground for a few months. Which felt like a victory to us.

What advice would you give to Young Creatives entering this year’s competition?

Don’t confine your creative thinking to your chosen medium. Idea first. Medium second. You will likely be able to adapt it.

That and have fun.

Where do you take inspiration from?

In life, it’s from people. In work, it can come from anywhere. Anything from art exhibitions to the bus ride home. The tricky part is being present enough to see them.

What else do you enjoy doing?

Seeing my family. Reading. Writing. Even a touch of bird watching. If something clears/stimulates my mind, I love doing it.

What did you learn from Cannes?

Fortunately, this wasn’t my first Cannes. So I am well briefed on the sun blazes and rosé hazes. This year, I spent a lot of time with the work. There seems to be a lot of focus on craft, which is great, but it’s the intelligent ideas that stand out the most.

Did you have a favourite idea from Cannes last year?

I’ll avoid the obvious picks here. It was ‘Loving IT’ by Grabarz & Partner. The client was Burger King. They rigged the end credits of the film IT with the line “the moral is: never trust a clown” followed by the BK logo. Genius. I think it only won silvers/bronzes, which is a real pity. Lovely thinking though…

Tom Wordley is a copywriter, poet and UK Young Lion’s winner. He can be found casually tweeting at @TomWordley.

For more information on how you can enter this year’s Young Lions competition, please follow this link.