Callum left West Buckland in 2010 with A-Levels in psychology, product design and biology.  His final A-Level results were so much better than his AS ones and he was awarded the prize for the most improvement between Year 12 and 13.  

Sadly, he was unable to receive the award in person as he was on his way to Sunderland University at the time to study Advertising. Within just a short time of arriving at the university, he teamed up with a fellow undergraduate and a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Marc Rayson, as a ‘creative team’. 

The two of them really hit it off and it seemed no time at all before they were being offered internships with agencies as far afield as Edinburgh, London and Manchester. Callum and Marc would leave their course for weeks at a time, work on an advertising campaign and then return to university to catch up on all they had missed.  Before long, they had attracted the attention of an advertising agency, BBH, a big name in the industry.

The pair have won several competitions for young creative, but their eyes were on the prize of winning the ‘Yellow Pencil’ which is the equivalent of an Oscar in the advertising industry. Tens of thousands of hopefuls enter their portfolios every year, and although Callum and Marc were very busy at the time, they decided to enter the competition.  However, they only allowed themselves the bus journey to London to come up with a concept.

They not only succeeded in achieving this, but they also won the prize, not only a Yellow Pencil but six nights in a luxury hotel in New York City. The pair, were then 'auctioned off' for placements at some of the nation's biggest agencies. "It was all mental. It still hasn't sunk in yet. Throughout the night and the next day we received six placement offers, one of them by Matt Gooden, ECD at CP+B, who went on to win the President's award. This sort of thing just doesn't happen. Ever." Now Callum and Marc are working in internships in London and hoping for ‘proper’ contracts soon!