“Milk it award” is a new competition from the National Dairy Council which gives secondary school students the chance to set up their own advertising agency.
Launched last September, the initiative is designed to educate students about the health and nutritional benefits of milk and dairy products in an innovative way.

Students were provided with a brief and guidelines and are encouraged to take on roles such as designers, copywriters, creative directors, research directors, media directors and project managers.
The challenge was to research, design and plan an advertising campaign aimed at their own teenage peers and encouraging teenagers to meet their dietary recommended levels of 5 dairy portions a day.

The 12 teams to win a place in the national finals, will face the challenge of exhibiting their work and presenting their ad campaigns to members of the national judging panel.

Judges include: Richard Curran, presenter of Dragons’ Den & Deputy Editor of the Sunday Business Post; Brian Swords, President of the Institute of Advertising Practitioners of Ireland; Shay Keany, CEO of ZenithOptimedia; Dietitian Paula Mee; Michael O’Leary, National Co-ordinator, Transition Year Programme; and Professor Andrea Prothero of UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business.