Auckland’s War Memorial Hall in The Domain is the venue for this week’s NZ Magazine Awards. The doors open for pre-drinks in the Grand Foyer on the ground level at 6.30pm this Thursday (25 September); at 7.30 guests will be ushered upstairs to the Events Centre on the third floor, and the awards show kicks off at 7.45 sharp.

CAANZ has set the dates for its big three 2015 awards shows – Axis (to be held on March 10), the Beacons (formerly the Media Awards) on April 23, and Effie on October 8. “Missed out on the opportunity to enter the 2014 Effie Awards?” wonders CAANZ’s Nicky Monera. “Well perhaps you should have recorded the dates in your diary when we told you to! Start off by recording the following important dates!”

More metal for NZ overnight at the Clio Awards in New York. DDB won a Silver for Sky TV Bring Down the King (in OOH). And Whybin\TBWA\DAN won three Bronzes for the NZ Effies Results Don’t Lie campaign (two in OOH category, one in Integrated).

With just a few hours to go – bidding closes at five o’clock this afternoon – the highest bid for the Botab Euro Chef’s Table prize auction currently stands at $1000. Bids need to be in $250 increments.

Just one week after winning a prestigious global Interbrand Best Work Award for the NZ AIDS Foundation’s Love Your Condom campaign, the foundation has sacked Interbrand and awarded its business to bcg2 after a creative pitch.

Admission, the Auckland marketing agency founded by Rob Davis in 2002, has quietly expanded – and rebranded. “After 12 years as Admission, we decided to review our branding to more reflect our specialist digital positioning,” Davis told M+AD.

Colenso BBDO ECD Nick Worthington will be the keynote speaker at the third Festival of Branded Content & Entertainment (BEfest) awards and conference in Sydney on Thursday and Friday, October 8-9.

CAANZ has identified the 113 successful entries that make the finalist list for the 2014 Effie Awards (held in association with TVNZ). FCB tops the list with 23 finalists; Colenso BBDO/Proximity is close behind with 18, DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi have 11 finalists each and Ogilvy & Mather 10. 

Sydney-based film company Goodoil – an embedded nest of true-blue Kiwis – has signed NZ director Joel Kefali to its roster.