The Young Lions who will be representing the UK in Cannes are Hotwire’s Matt Watson and Paul Stollery.

The young professionals posed a campaign titled ‘The ChildLine Takeover’. They will go on to compete against national teams at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this summer.

This year’s UK competition asked teams to respond to a brief set by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), which acted as the client. Each of the 41 teams then had 24 hours to create a campaign.

Jo-Ann Robertson, partner and deputy CEO at Ketchum, who sat on the judging panel, says, “The team excited the judges both because of the potential scale of their idea, and also because of the potential impact it could have in terms of donations to Childline – a total win/win.”

Once in Cannes, the competing national teams will be set a brief by another charity or non-profit organisation acting as the client, and a global winner will be chosen by the Cannes Lions juries. The gold-winning team members from each of the seven competitions will collect their medals on stage during a Cannes Lions awards ceremony, and will receive complimentary registration and accommodation at the 2017 festival.

Francis Ingham, director general at the PRCA, says, “Looking at the calibre of campaign entries this year, all shortlisted teams should be extremely proud of their work. The winning Hotwire entry demonstrated what a knowledgeable and creative team Watson and Stollery make and they are immensely deserving of their win. We all wish them the best of luck in Cannes.”

The Young Lions PR Competition is sponsored by the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO). The PRCA, who handled the UK competition, will also send silver winners, Cohn & Wolfe’s Emma Naomi Van Braningen and Felicity Haslehurst, to the festival to act as a support team to the winners.