We like to finish off Awesome Newcastle for the year by making it open to the public; it’s always been a really beautiful way to wrap things up before December. Last night was no exception. We held Awesome Newcastle at the brand new Newcastle Station, and the warm evening went down perfectly with delicious beverages from our sponsors, Murray’s Brewing Co and Twin Bridges Wine.

We had a number of beautiful guests and regulars this evening. We were sad to not have board members Amy Tribe and Lois Donaldson with us, but we were excited to welcome some familiar and new faces including consultant Don Magin, Ty Brennock from Monica Clare Recruitment,  consultant Richard Tribe, Jade Pearsall of Puro People and Shivani Gupta who was a previous board member.

Our dynamic host of for the evening was sports announcer and presenter Glen Hawke and he introduced our finalists.

First up we had Riley Mclean from Bearfoot Theatre, a youth managed Theatre Company. Riley told us how the collective produces original works of theatre which give a voice to young artists. His company aims to assist the development of local writers by providing opportunities to workshop their scripts and to bring together a diverse and inclusive community of creatives from all facets of the industry. Bearfoot Collective would use the money to help fund the often expensive job of putting on theatre productions.

Next up we welcomed musician Kye Smith. Kye is a drummer, and he told us about his musical career and his adventures as a musician both in Newcastle and abroad. Kye wants to use the money to purchase more professional equipment and create more collaborative content in Newcastle to share everywhere! If you haven’t heard of him before, do yourself a favour and check out his Youtube channel!

Last but not least we welcomed Eloise Sinnot from Hot Milk. Hot Milk is a family friendly beauty salon, particularly aimed at new mums. Being a mum herself, Eloise had a sub optimal experiences at a beauty salon in the past and saw there was a gap in the market. Mums can bring their kids to Hot Milk (or not) and always enjoy an accommodating, relaxed environment. Eloise said she would use the money to better market Hot Milk to the right demographic.

The judges went off to deliberate and the audience anticipated. The sun set over the station and Newcastle Harbour.

Before we announced the winner, a previous Awesome winner from 2016, Kim Oakhill of Helpful Love gave the sweetest speech explaining how Awesome Newcastle had helped launch her business. She stressed that taking home the money is not the most important part of Awesome Newcastle, and how being a finalist and having Awesome Newcastle back you is such a crucial step for beginning your initiative.

Then guest board member Shivani said a few words, congratulating everyone. Then she passed the sack of cash to Riley!

Congratulations to Bearfoot Theatre, we can’t wait to hear about your upcoming productions! We were so glad to have Kye and Eloise back again, and we hope everyone who came out last night will stay in touch with Awesome Newcastle.  We will see you next year!