History

In March 2007, Adele was taking a break from her studies at Melbourne University and Pamela was working as a web developer.

Over a coffee in Ponsonby, after having not seen each other for about 5 years, they met up and got onto the topic of the web.

They started yakking away at a hundred miles an hour (as they often did) about how the web opened up new opportunities for community groups. Adele was working with community groups at the time, and vented about how Web 2.0 tools could be used much more than they currently were. Pamela had just graduated from Media Design School, and shared her frustration of seeing her talented fellow graduates struggle to find their first jobs in the industry.

There seemed to be two key complementary needs. The community sector needed knowledge about free and low cost digital tools. Students needed portfolio experience prior to graduation.

Soon the concept of the yMedia Challenge emerged. Digital media, marketing, design and communication students could complete short-term internships with community groups – increasing their community group’s digital literacy in the process. Digital media industry leaders would judge the final projects and the funding provided by the Tindall Foundation would provide students’ prize money.

The first competition in 2007 was in Auckland with six community groups and six teams of students. Pamela and Adele later went on to present at the Digital Future Summit alongside former Minister of Communications David Cunliffe, presenting to New Zealand’s top 500 business and government leaders. In 2008 the yMedia Challenge won a Computerworld Award for Excellence, and in 2009 the yMedia management team grew to eight.

By the end of 2009, the Challenge had helped over 100 students through internships or workshops, given over 30 community groups high-quality digital projects, and placed 5 students into full-time employment with top New Zealand digital companies.