THE JUDGING PANEL

Lauren L. Hill hosts The Waterpeople Podcast and authored She Surf: The Rise of Female Surfing. Lauren’s surfing has featured in numerous films including ‘The Church of the Open Sky,’ ‘Bella Vita,’ and ‘Transparentsea Voyage.’ 
 
Raised on the small barrier island of Anastasia, Lauren grew up in the Atlantic, freshwater springs, and brackish waterways of Florida’s East Coast. She has degrees in Environmental and Social Science from Stetson University. Her multi-media work aims to employ storytelling to build a more inclusive surf community and motivate action to protect our planet.

Spencer Frost is an internationally award-winning Filmmaker from Avalon Beach - Sydney who specialises in adventure, travel and surfing cinematography.

His latest feature-length surf film “Corners of the Earth - Kamchatka” shot over a 2-month adventure to the far east of Russia has already picked up multiple awards all over the world, screened and toured in over 20 + countries, topped the iTunes documentary charts and is now available to watch on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google TV, Fetch. 

Spencer has worked with a number of international brands, agencies and production companies including BBC Earth, National Geographic, RED BULL Media House, Japan Airlines, Tourism Australia, Corona, P&O Cruises and so many more. His work has taken him to some of the furthest corners of our world - including Iceland, Africa, Russia, Indonesia, South Pacific, all through the USA and of course all over his home country Australia.

Kirra is an accomplished longboarder, holding multiple titles as the Australian Longboard/Logger champion. Operating her own surf coaching business in Noosa, she combines her Business and Sports & Exercise Science degree with a role as a trainer at the Pro Movement studio. Passionate about surfing, Kirra’s journey has taken her across the globe, participating in events such as the WSL World Longboard Tour and various pro invitational competitions. Her love for surfing extends beyond the sport itself, embracing the diverse connections with people, cultures, and communities.

In addition to her athletic pursuits, Kirra is dedicated to ocean conservation. As the volunteer President of the Noosa World Surfing Reserve, one of the esteemed 13 Reserves worldwide, she actively works to safeguard what the Noosa World Surfing Reserve stands for: “To protect Noosa’s exceptional waves, to preserve the surrounding environment, and uphold the rich surf culture, history, and economic benefits to the community.”

“Nathan Oldfield is a maverick, a filmmaker who wants a surf movie to say something important, to move us and make us grateful for the sea around us and the life within us. His films are quiet, beautiful and brimming with sacred purpose.” - TIM WINTON, Acclaimed Australian Novelist.

Nathan Oldfield is a husband, father, surfer, photographer, filmmaker and school teacher from the Far North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He is interested in beautiful things and making stuff. Nathan has been making films for over twenty years. Past awards include Best Feature Film (San Diego Surf Film Festival), Best Feature Film (Berlin Surf Film Festival), Best Cinematography (Florida Surf Film Festival), Best Editing (International Surf Film Festival, Anglet) and Special Honor For Most Heart (Xpedition Film Festival, Colorado). His photographs are regularly published in international surfing magazines and he was included in Surfing World Magazine’s ‘Fifty Most Intriguing People In Surfing.’

Nathan is a contributing filmmaker and photographer for Patagonia.

Peppie has been a pioneer, advocate, coach, supporter and competitor of women’s surfing since the mid-1970s. Peppie is still competitive today in her 60s and still supporting and encouraging women to get involved in what she
feels is not just a sport but a way of life.

 She founded the Victorian Women’s Surfing Association in the late 70s that merged with NSW and QLD to create the AWSA, the Australian Women’s Surfing Assoc. The birth of a new generation of women surfers in Australia. Some credits include multiple Victorian state shortboard titles, 4th place Bells Easter Pro 1981. Multiple winner Qld state longboard in O/50s and 60s. Australian longboard champ 2019 to 2022 O/50 and 60s. Multiple winner Noosa Festival of Surfing and Noosa Logger. Winner of the prestigious Bill Wallace Award 2023 for her contribution to surfing.

In between surfing, Peppie had 10 years working as an actress performing in theatre, film and TV.

Mick Sowry is a storyteller and surfer. He makes photographs, films, books and magazines about the ocean. He is the award-winning writer, producer and director of The Reef and Musica
Surfica — two films made in collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra — and the creative director and co=publisher of Great Ocean Quarterly, a journal of art, ideas and the sea. His. work has featured in The Surfer’s Journal, Surfing World, Surfline, and Great Ocean Quarterly. In 2022 he published ‘a spark becomes an is’ — a limited edition hardbound book of photographs and observations, precipitated by the sudden death of his wife,
Sue, in 2019.

Mick’s large-format photographic work recently featured in his solo exhibition “Spark” at Hoop Gallery in Torquay, Australia, and the group show ‘South West’ at Boom Gallery, Geelong. Mick has two sons, Joey and Tom. Both are artists. He lives, with Tom, in the village of Jan Juc, just five minutes from his beloved Bell’s Beach, on Wadawurrung Country, at the bottom of Australia.

Tim Baker is an award-winning journalist and storyteller specialising in surfing history and culture and the best-selling author of numerous books on surfing.
His latest book Patting The Shark documents his journey managing a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Tim wrote Patting The Shark as part of a creative writing PhD scholarship from Griffith University. He is a former editor of Tracks, Surfing Life and Slow Living magazines, and a two-time winner of the Surfing Australia Hall of Fame Culture Award. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Sunday Age, the Bulletin, Inside Sport, GQ, Text Journal as well as surfing magazines around the world.

Jon Frank is a Photo Editor who’s been part of Surfing World Magazine since 1962. As well a making a bunch of surf movies, starting with Litmus in 1995, Jon has worked on a variety of film productions, as both a camera operator and water photography specialist. Clients worthy of name-dropping include: Jane Campion (Top of the Lake 2), Sir Kenneth Branagh (Artemis Fowl) and Simon Baker (Breath).

Jon recently completed filming on a big budget action blockbuster (MEG 2) as underwater camera operator. Its co-star was an actor some call the ‘Chinese Tom Cruise’. He hosted a dinner one evening after shooting wrapped and had the entire restaurant in hysterics by demonstrating a party trick of pouring two large cans of beer into a bowl, skulling said bowl in one go, and then inverting the bowl and placing it upside-down on his head. This cultural exchange was most endearing. He’d like to see the real Tom Cruise do this.

Tom Wegener is a Californian expat who came to Noosa in 1998 with the surf film Siestas & Olas, A Surfing Journey Through Mexico. At the time, he had been an LA-based lawyer and team rider for the late Donald Takayama. Tom married Margie and in the year 2000 they started Tom Wegener Surfboards from their property in Cooroy, where Tom was innovative in the resurgence of single-fin longboards, hollow wood surfboards and the Alaia revolution.

In 2016 Tom received a Doctorate in Surf Culture from the University of the Sunshine Coast and published his PhD in the book Surfboard Artisans - For the Love. He is currently an elected Noosa Shire Councillor. Tom is passionate about his family, the environment and surf history. He continues to develop green surfboards from wood, EPS and cork, passing on his knowledge and skills to the next generation of board builders.

I am 26 years old and have lived in Noosa since I was 6. For the past 5 years I’ve worked alongside countless creatives producing, directing and shooting short surf films.

My filmmaking career started when I was introduced to the team at Thomas Surfboards who I now work for as a creative. Although I was originally employed as the staff photographer, I soon realised that my deep passion for capturing movement and expressing surfing as an art through film, greatly outweighed my love for photography.