In a ceremony expertly hosted by SA comedy king Loyiso Madinga that celebrated the best African and Middle Eastern talent in the categories design, digital, out of home, print communication, B2B, social impact campaign, and student, a key highlight of the night was the awarding of the Young Creative Award to Joey Gordon.

Gordon, who plies her phenomenal trade with The Promise Group, having previously been on the books at Joe Public said that she “Feels very grateful and blessed,” adding that the magnitude of the achievement hasn’t “sunk in yet”.

All thanks to the quality of the brands that I work on

“Joe Public has great brands that they work on, brands that give you really great opportunities. Being able to work on that ups anyone’s portfolio. The calibre of work that you can do with those brands is very high.”

She feels that it’s really important to celebrate young creatives in this way: “As a young person you don’t know what you want to do yet, I haven’t figured out what I want my career to look like yet. But I think winning awards like this just affirms that ‘yes,’ maybe I am in the right spot and doing the right thing. It makes you feel good and proud of yourself. It puts you in a good spotlight, I’ve been getting calls all morning from people offering me jobs.”

The Loeries are the biggest show in town and a vital cornerstone of the industry

The Loeries plays a vital role in the creative ecosystem, says Joey adding: “This is the creative industry’s festive season, we always joke that the rest of the world has their festive season in December, but for us this is it. Even students at university, everyone knows about the Loeries as the top awards show and having your name next to that – that’s really big.”

Her most meaningful piece of work this year? "The Cure the Craving integrated campaign for Chicken Licken.” How is she going to celebrate her win? “I’m chilled, but I think I’ll have a couple of tequilas and a glass of champagne.