With the support of ADLIB and Babbasa, we’re delighted to announce that Okori Lewis-McCalla has won the 2020 Ben Martin Apprentice Award. The calibre of entries was higher than ever this year and Okori was unanimously chosen by the judging panel for his passion and ambition to become a ‘creative technologist’.

As part of the competition, Okori will join Bristol Media and a team of agency professionals at the world’s largest interactive festival, SXSW in Austin, Texas for five days in March. On his return, he’ll complete a structured programme of paid internships.

“To even be shortlisted for the Ben Martin Apprentice Award was quite flattering but to win the award is an honour and something I’m very grateful for”, said Okori. “More than anything, it’s empowering and has reaffirmed to me that you can and should just be yourself.”

The BMAA internship programme was hugely successful in 2019 and saw last year’s winner, Marissa Lewis-Peart, undertake 16 internships with some of the biggest and best agencies in the region. As a result, her career is off to a flying start! This year, we’re looking for agencies and businesses to be involved as corporate sponsors, to provide additional funding and further reach for young people. In 2020, we’re also committed to offering internships to the runners-up who will benefit from gaining practical work experience, setting them up for a future career in the industry.

“We all want to make sure our industry is more diverse and inclusive, but when you run a small business, it’s not always easy to know how to make a practical difference. By coming together as the Bristol Media community to support the BMAA, every member business, regardless of size, can do their bit to help young people get that all important ‘foot in the door’.” ~ Chris Thurling, Chair, Bristol Media

“ADLIB are delighted to support this year’s Ben Martin Apprentice Award. We’re a B Corp business committed to driving and championing diversity and inclusion within the technology, data, creative and marketing sectors. We are big supporters of Babassa and it has been a pleasure working with them and Bristol Media, we look forward to seeing the positive outcomes that are generated through the programme.” ~ Nick Dean, MD, ADLIB

“This competition embodies Babbasa’s mission to improve social mobility outcomes in Bristol and the SW and to support young people from diverse communities with their professional ambitions. We are very pleased and excited for what comes next for Okori and I am sure this will inspire many other young people to consider a career in the creative industry.” ~ Urfan Ali, Babbasa Advisory Board Member

If your business would like to get involved with the BMAA in 2020, contact [email protected] for more details.