Mumbai: London International Awards (LIA) has awarded two coveted spots in its Creative LIAisons onsite programme in Las Vegas to Team Wolfbird, winners of the ‘On the Spot’ Young Creative Competition held in Singapore in partnership with GOVT VCCP.
Comprising Su Ann Yip and Sean Low, Team Wolfbird emerged as the top performers among 23 competing teams of creatives under the age of 30. Their win grants them access to the prestigious Creative LIAisons Global coaching and learning academy, designed to inspire and mentor emerging creative talent through speaker sessions, panel discussions, and real-time exposure to judging rooms.
The first runners-up, Joo Xuan Chong and Phoebe Ting of Team Joojubee, secured places in the Creative LIAisons Virtual Coaching programme, where they will be mentored by industry-leading professionals through customised sessions.
The ‘On the Spot’ competition, a first-of-its-kind live creative challenge in Singapore, required participants to respond to a live brief by LEGO. Teams were given one hour to develop their ideas before presenting to a jury panel using just five slides, followed by a Q&A and feedback session. From the initial 23 teams, 10 finalists were shortlisted for the final round.
Aaron Koh, Chief Creative Officer at GOVT VCCP and co-organiser of the competition, said, “We wanted to recreate the beautiful chaos of real world agency deadlines by stripping away the safety nets. We forced these rising stars to lean on their best tools: their gut instincts and raw talent.
The vibe in the room was electric. Definitely not your typical, polite creative competition. It wasn’t just a race against the clock, but seeing who could dance in the constraints. By killing the ‘overthinking’ that usually slows our industry down, we saw a level of grit and creativity that was honestly a breath of fresh air,” said Aaron Koh, CCO of GOVT VCCP and ‘On The Spot’ co-organiser. “By letting young talent stand toe-to-toe with industry legends in real-time, we’re closing the gap between “the next generation” and the “hall of famers.”
Aaron Koh added, “For the participants, the 60-minute format was a total adrenaline shot. It was a professional pressure cooker that forced teams to find the ‘North Star’ of a brief while the clock was ticking. This wasn’t about picture perfect decks, but about decisive thinking and rapid-fire teamwork. The kind of ‘battlefield’ skills you actually need in a world where trends move faster than a Slack notification. Since there’s only so much you can do in an hour, we included a Q&A segment, where teams could defend their logic and “stretch” their ideas on the fly based on the jury’s feedback. The Jury had to work just as hard as the contestants. Forget looking at high-budget case study videos; they had to look at the “bones” of the ideas.”
Khairul Mondzi, Executive Creative Director at BBH Singapore and a member of the jury panel, said, “The competition format works well overall.
The one-hour timeframe to develop and present an idea feels right, and the judging duration was well paced. Having just two criteria made the evaluation more rigorous. It really forces you to think deeply about each entry rather than rely on a checklist.”
Laurissa Levy, Creative LIAisons & Global Initiative Director at LIA, added, “It was amazing to see so much talent on display. The brief from LEGO was fun and the ideas we saw were imaginative despite the short time the teams had to work on it. All the finalists did well when they articulated their ideas and fielded questions from the jury. So heartiest congratulations to the winning teams as they rose to the top despite very close competition. Well done!”
Barbara Levy, President of LIA, said, “LIA and Creative LIAisons are grateful for both the partnership and the sponsorship of all those who were involved in making this event a success. The judges also did an amazing job with their relevant questions and comments. It is gratifying to see others share the same passion as LIA when it comes to supporting, nurturing and coaching the next generation of creatives. We know that winners will benefit greatly from both our onsite programme in Las Vegas and our Virtual Coaching programme. Many who have had the privilege of learning from both these programmes have seen a tremendous growth in their own career trajectories, “said Barbara Levy, President of LIA.
The onsite Creative LIAisons programme will run alongside the LIA judging sessions from September 27 to October 1, 2026, at Encore @ Wynn Las Vegas, while the virtual coaching programme will take place from May through November 2026.
The competition, hosted at Scape, Singapore, was a free-to-enter event aimed at challenging young creatives to think quickly and perform under real-world pressure, reflecting the fast-paced demands of the advertising industry.
