PMA Australia Young Achiever finalists announced

Annual competition selects finalists among top applicants

The PMA Australia Young Achiever competition is an annual event to determine the finest young photo retail staff members. This years’ applicants were: Jarrason Bitton – Fletchers Fotographics Yamba, New South Wales; Laura Darling – Teds Camera Store Marion, South Australia; Leia Godecke – Gerry Gibbs Camera House, Western Australia, Ben Mulligan – Teds Camera Store South Melbourne, Victoria; Nathan Muller – Teds Camera Store Southland, Victoria; Megan Tweedie – Thornton Richards Camera House, Victoria; Laurens Visser – Teds Camera store Elizabeth St., Victoria; Makida Kebede – Teds Camera Store Elizabeth St., Victoria; Nina Dos Santos – Teds Camera Store Brisbane, Queensland; Richard Robinson – Teds Camera Store Brisbane, Queensland; Chris Morgan – Garrick’s Camera House Helensvale, Queensland; Tahnee Urquhart – Garrick’s Camera House Townsville, Queensland. Judging took place at Olympus headquarters in Sydney, Teds in Melbourne and Photo Continental in Brisbane.

The judges announced finalists in each group: Leia Godecke – Gerry Gibbs Camera House: (NSW/SA/WA finalist ), Nathan Muller – Teds Camera Store: (Victorian finalist), and Chris Morgan – Garrick’s Camera House: (Queensland finalist).

As part of their prize each will be flown and accommodated in Melbourne for the finals judging to take place at the 2010 PMA Australia Expo. The winner will be announced at The Young Achiever Sundowner, 6 p.m., Friday, June 4; the prize includes a Friedman Training Course and a trip to the PMA Convention 2011 in Las Vegas.

This event would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors who are: Yaffa Publishing, The Friedman Group, Fujifilm, Phototechnical Services, Teds Camera Stores, Photoplus Group, Olympus Imaging, CR Kennedy, Maxwell International, Profile Products, Stand Alone Design and UR1.

The judges are: Stan Kessanis, Alison Lyons, Tony Payne, Sharyn McKissock, Glynn Lavender, Jeff Crowley, Tracy Lints, Brendan Cassidy, Andrew Mason, Ron McKnight, and Ian McEllister.

As part of the interviews, some excellent suggestions were received as to ways we can improve communication to future applicants (who frequently are not receiving details of industry initiatives such as this) as well as ideas on young achiever launch evenings to address a wider audience.

We wish all finalists well and and encourage those who participated to try again next year.They were all outstanding examples of our future industry leaders.