AKQA has unveiled the winners of its annual Future Lions awards at Cannes, Spotify Beach, in partnership with Spotify and the Wall Street Journal.

The competition, now in its 19th year, supports emerging design, creative, and advertising talent. This year's Grand Prix winner is 'Break the Sound Barrier', a team from Syracuse University Newhouse, New York. The winning team will collaborate with Spotify and AKQA to bring their idea to life.

The competition encourages young innovators to use technology to bring listeners closer to the creators and communities they love. The awards ceremony occurs during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. AKQA has renamed and redefined its School of the Year award in honour of Tom Bedecarré, AKQA's Chairman Emeritus. The inaugural Tom Bedecarré School of the Year Award goes to OpenLearn Academy, an online education platform in South Korea. OpenLearn Academy plans to open a new series of classes in New York this fall.

This year's entries came from around the world, with the highest submissions coming from the USA, Spain, Argentina, Sweden, the UK, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Peru, and Germany. Over 240 schools participated, including Brother Escuela de Creativos, Miami Ad School, Arizona State University, and Berghs School of Communication. 99% of winners have gone on to work for some of the world's leading advertising and design agencies. Other winners include Ear Safe from Miami Ad School, Berlin; The Good Loop from Accademia di Comunicazione, Milan; and Beats in Motion from Leeds Arts University, Leeds UK.

Global Head of Business Marketing at Spotify, Grace Kao, said: "Wow! When we signed on to sponsor this year’s Future Lions, we had high expectations of the work. TLDR: they totally knocked it out of the park. Every single honouree raised the bar for innovation in our industry and set a new standard for our ability to connect with the world. We are so excited to collaborate with these brilliant minds and our partners at AKQA to explore new ways to use Spotify's rich platform to inspire impactful creativity and rewrite the playbook together. Congrats to the winners!"

SVP and global head of studio and creative for The Trust at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, Phillipa Leighton-Jones, said: "This year's honourees exemplified ambitious thinking and impactful creativity, poised to transform how we harness powerful technologies to solve very human problems. It has been a delight collaborating with Future Lions on this year's competition, which has left me excited and inspired by the visionary minds of the next generation."

Founder and CEO of AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed, said: "We are inspired and invigorated by the limitless creativity of a rising generation. The Future Lions competition honours the pioneers, and elevates their ideas that rethink the potential of technology and design to set the stage for a new wave of innovation."