Kiwis get a shot at a Nescafé Big Break!

May 25, 2005

Record number of Kiwis get a shot at a Nescafé Big Break!

Young New Zealanders and their big ideas have proven incredibly successful with 94 talented Kiwis including wannabe punk rockers, promising athletes and up-and-coming fashion designers being named semi-finalists in this year's Nescafé Big Break programme.

Chosen from more than 4400 entries across Australia and New Zealand, two of the Kiwi semi-finalists include Josh Wilson, a designer who has big plans to design wallets out of previous America's Cup sails and Matthew Chernishov, with dreams for the New Zealand music scene.

This year for the first time, it could be a lucky Kiwi who picks up a Big Break of AUD$50,000 to kick-start their career thanks to NESCAFÉ.

Now in its sixth year in New Zealand, Nescafé Big Break continues to inspire youth to pursue their dreams by offering a total prize pool of AUD$220,000.

The semi-finalists must now submit detailed plans in a bid to become one of 15 trans-Tasman finalists. The New Zealand finalists will be flown to Sydney in July to present their ideas to a judging panel which includes Nescafé Big Break past winners, where six will win AUD$25,000 and the other nine will win AUD$5000.

The New Zealand public can then get in behind any one of the six AUD$25,000 winners by voting to double their total prize winnings to AUD$50,000. Apart from helping to make a young person's dream come true, voters will also have a chance to win a share in AUD$25,000 worth of prizes when voting opens in September.

NESCAFÉ BIG BREAK PROGRAMME BACKGROUND

Nescafé Big Break is open to anyone who is aged between 16 to 24 years old with a big idea and is in need of a cash injection to give them the kick-start they need to get their 'idea' off the ground. There are no categories or limitations and this year's semi-finalists highlight this, with designers to extreme sports junkies all working to get their ideas through to the next round.

Raw talent, drive and ambition are all ingredients for success but often it's a helping hand that New Zealand youth need to realise their dreams and Nescafé Big Break plays a vital role in this.

"Without Nescafé Big Break I would have found it much harder to realise my dream of training with one of the world's best coaches," says New Zealand fencing champion Sarah Raudkivi, who won a AUD$20,000 big break in 2001, which enabled her to train with top coach, Antal Solti, in Hungary.

ENDS

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