Credit: IMAA
Independent Media Agencies Australia (IMAA) has named eight finalist teams for its Pitch-Chella program, selected from a record 24 entries representing 22 member agencies.
Now in its third year, Pitch-Chella gives emerging media professionals the chance to sharpen their pitching skills through written submissions and live presentations.
The 2026 finalists are Advertising Associates (Jeremy O'Connell, Emily Dunne, Sam Christie-Sherill and Brigh Robinson) from Victoria; Bang Digital (Pia Rossiter, Sam Daisley, Ari Silberstein and Dylan O'Regan) from Western Australia; and Hatched (Megan Yee, Chinma Anyanwu, Byron Luckhardt and Manning Brophy) from Victoria.
Also through are Reload Media (Cleo Cox-Lawson, Drew Hart, Yashi Wadiwala and Harriet Wing) from Queensland and Victoria; Slingshot (Neha Sharma and Anna Nagpaul) from New South Wales; The Noisy Beast (Armin Narcisco, Nick Buratto, Gemma Mottram and Nicola Pavlic) from Victoria; Thinkerbell (Eduarda Cuadros Marquez and Erin Beers) from Victoria; and Yango (Sam Rickward, Charles Greene and Sophia Bui) from New South Wales.
Teams were judged on written pitches for a national campaign for anti-bullying organisation You Can Sit With Me, a peer-led program addressing exclusion, bullying and school refusal.
The brief called for a campaign to lift brand awareness and community engagement.
Judges included Audience360 managing director Jenny Parkes, TrinityP3 business director and global media lead Steven Wright, Orand founder Adam Hickey, and You Can Sit With Me founder and chief executive Sophie Sparks.
Parkes said the entries had impressed the panel.
"All the written pitches were well-researched and well executed, demonstrating strategic thinking, smart creative and innovative responses to the brief," she said.
"Our eight finalist teams thoroughly impressed the judging panel with their ideas, their clear understanding of You Can Sit With Me's work and objectives, and their willingness to think outside the box and be brave.
“We're looking forward to seeing their live pitches on July 14."
Finalists will pitch live to the judging panel on July 14 with winners announced at an awards ceremony at Sydney's Beresford Hotel on July 30.
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