Animation director Yuval Haker receives seventh-annual Levine/Leavitt Artist in Residence Award.
Five creatives from MENA are among the diverse group of 31 global winners in The One Club for Creativity’s prestigious Young Guns 18 competition, celebrating creative professionals age 30 or younger.
Young Guns 18 winners based in or originally from the region are:
Meshal Aljaser, filmmaker, Los Angeles (originally from Riyadh)
Eylul Duranagac, creative director, new media artist, Ouchhh Studio, Istanbul
Gaul Porat, cinematographer, director of photography, Brooklyn/London (originally from Rehovot, Israel)
Tala Safié, graphic designer, New York (originally from Beirut)
Yuval Haker, animation director, Brooklyn (raised in Tel Aviv)
In addition, Yuval Haker was also selected to receive the seventh-annual Artist In Residence Award from international artists management agency and Young Guns sponsor Levine/Leavitt.
Young Guns is the industry’s only cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based global awards competition that identifies today’s vanguard of young creatives. Submissions highlighting both professional and personal work were received from 40 countries and judged by the diverse jury of 82 top creatives — about half of whom are past YG winners — from 32 countries.
“This latest class follows in the footsteps of past Young Guns winners as a diverse group of exciting new talent from around the world who push the creative boundaries in their fields,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “These five young creatives are blazing their own trail, and we’re proud to celebrate and elevate this next generation of creative leaders.”
Levine/Leavitt Artist In Residence Award
Yuval Haker was named winner of this year’s coveted Levine/Leavitt Artist In Residence Award, bestowed annually on the newly named Young Gun whose body of work truly stands out, as judged by an advisory board of industry professionals across a range of disciplines. He will receive a full year of professional development, guidance and mentorship from Levine/Leavitt to help advance his career.
Humor, anxiety, and play are a big part of Haker’s work, consisting of animation for music videos, commercials, short films and documentaries. His recent clients include Vox, Netflix, Sharpie, The Wall Street Journal, Square, Google, GE, Spotify, AIGA, Delta, Jack Daniel’s, Bloomberg, IBM, State Street Global Advisors and Centrum.
“For the past six years, we’ve been so proud to sponsor the Young Guns awards,” said Jeff Levine, cofounder, CEO, Levine/Leavitt. “It’s extremely exciting to nurture the growth of artists, especially those that are in the early phases of their long-term career goals. It is with great pride that we announce Yuval Haker will join us as this year’s L/L Artist in Residence. We truly believe his talent is exceptional, and his artwork exemplifies what we believe Young Guns represents. We look forward to working with Yuval, and seeing all he will accomplish and conquer in the coming months..”
All Young Guns winners will receive a unique version of the iconic Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the Young Guns website. Winners also receive a complimentary one-year One Club for Creativity membership, permanent membership in the Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in Young Guns events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from Young Guns sponsors.
Young Guns 18 branding and design of the Cube award itself is recreated each year by a past Young Gun winner. This year’s YG18 branding and award are designed by CONTINO, New York, founded by creative director and YG9 winner Jon Contino.
Past Young Guns include rising stars who went on to become leaders in their chosen fields, including graphic designers James Victore (YG1), Stefan Sagmeister (YG1), Natasha Jen (YG3) and Jessica Walsh (YG8); ad creatives Rei Inamoto (YG4) and Menno Kluin (YG6); illustrators Christoph Niemann (YG2) and Deanne Cheuk (YG4); fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond (YG14); artist/filmmaker Calmatic (YG16); film director/photographer India Sleem (YG17); photographer Ryan McGuinness (YG2); typographers Alex Trochut (YG6) and Gemma O’Brien (YG13); film and video director Mike Mills, animation artist Todd St. John (YG1) and others.
Young Guns 18 is made possible in part through the generous support of partners including CONTINO, Levine/Leavitt and Shutterstock.