Anna Barnes, playwright, VIC

At age 18, Anna’s first play was picked to have a reading in the Melbourne International Festival; from there her script was picked up and produced professionally. Anna’s second play was performed in Nottingham; and she was one of only six Australians invited to attend Interplay, the world’s largest conference for young playwrights.

Anna has just been accepted into Interplay 2008, the largest international festival for young playwrights (aged 18 to 26) in the world. The aim of the conference looks for new, high quality work, in which a talent for writing for the stage is clearly evident. Interplay aims to encourage and help writers whose goal is to write for the professional stage. Anna will also be involved at the Royal Court Theatre and other cutting edge contemporary drama collectives over the coming year.

Stephen Gilchrist, curator of indigenous art, VIC

Stephen is one of the youngest curators of indigenous art in Australia. He currently works at Nthe National Gallery of Victoria and has also worked at National Art Gallery in Canberra.

Thanks to Realise Your Dream, Stephen will be fulfilling a long held ambition to be mentored at one of the world’s great cultural institutions, the British Museum. He’ll be working in the Contemporary Indigenous Art Department of this major British public institution.

Omar Musa, rapper/journalist, NSW

Omar has performed across Australia as a rapper; featured on several CDs released in the USA and Australia; has been played on triple j; featured in hip hop magazines; and has worked with indigenous children in Cape York, creating workshops for creative expression.

Along with learning the ins and outs of the music business at independent record Label Big Dada recordings, Omar will be working on his debut album in the UK with grime star Akala. He then plans to finish his album with veteran rock producer Geoff Stanfield in Seattle, USA.

Rebecca Parker, writer/director, NSW

Rebecca’s first film appeared in over 20 festivals and won several awards. Her graduation film won an Asia-Pacific Kodak Film School Award.She has been commissioned by David Bradbury to write a screenplay; worked for Foreign Correspondent and made documentaries in East Timor; and is currently developing two feature films.

Rebecca’s dream is to write and direct feature films, and advance her understanding of the skills and knowledge needed to do this successfully in the UK.

Katrina Schwarz, editor, art writer and curator, NSW

As well as being Editor of Art & Australia magazine, Katrina is a freelance writer for Yen and Monument magazines. Katrina ; initiated with Noise the 25/25 project to showcase the best artists under 25 in Australia; has established a critical arts writing prize for high school students; and launched her co-creation The Salon Anthology at Sydney Writers’ Festival earlier last year.

Whilst in the UK, Katrina will be working closely with Artangel, a dynamic London based arts organisation that has pioneered an ambitious series of highly successful commissions since the early 1990s. While expanding her networks and knowledge of contemporary art, Katrina will be working with Artangel to overhaul and expand their online presence. She will commence studies in Art History at London's Courtauld Institute of Art later in 2008.

Jess Scully, editor and journalist, NSW

Jess has edited Yen, Hot Press and Empty magazines; edited and worked on custom titles for corporate clients; is a regular fashion contributor for Harper’s Bazaar; co-founded the bi-annual fashion magazine Summer Winter magazine which sells worldwide; covers fashion online for ninemsn and is editor of Noise.net youth media network.

Jess’s dream is to be the best magazine editor in the world. She has already made a mark with her magazines; the next step for her is to learn from the best editors in the UK, in arts and fashion publications.

Clare Atkins, Script Writer (2006)

Clare is one of the country's youngest TV script writers and editors. Her credits include Home and Away and Headland, both produced for the 7 Network. Her dream of being mentored by the legendary Jimmy McGovern became a reality when she won this award. She spent six weeks in the UK working on a number of projects with him and other writers from the BBC; titles include Blue Murder and Coronation Street.

Emma Scott-Child, Art Director (2006)

Emma's art direction background includes Yen, Black+White and SummerWinter . As a teenager she developed a passion for British designers including Tomato, Stylorouge and Big Active. Emma worked at BB/Saunders on her placement, developing a hugely successful interactive online identity for Heart FM amongst other projects.

Genevieve Bailey, Writer/Filmmaker (2006)

Gen has written and directed over 25 short films, music videos and documentaries that have been screened worldwide. Some of her inspiration has come from the long-running documentary Seven Up. Gen undertook a placement with BritDoc and had a string of meetings with some of the UK's top documentary makers.

Karen Annette Thomas, Visual Artist (2006)

Karen is a visual artist who explores the subject of memory with paint. After winning a 2006 Realise Your Dream award she visited the UK for an internship at Cell Studios. She also used the opportunity to visit a wide range of galleries, museums etc, engaged with a broader artistic community and made valuable contacts for the future.

Sarah Perry, Textile Designer (2006)

Sarah has a line of signature hand-printed textiles and soft furnishings of world class standing. Her dream was to visit the UK to develop the skills she already had a understand how to build a brand around them. After winning a Realise Your Dream award she undertook a placement with Timorous Beasties in Glasgow.

Anna McEachran, Fashion Designer (2006)

Anna has her own women's ready-to-wear fashion label, Moocha Bella, which she launched in 2002. She is widely stocked throughout Australia and will open her own store in the not too distant future. Her dream was to be mentored by a leading British fashion designer, and she worked with Luella Bartlett at Luella, one highlight being designing a dress for Lily Allen to wear at Glastonbury.

Shaun Yue, Moving Image Designer (2005)

After winning a Realise Your Dream Award in 2005, Shaun used the opportunity to undertake work experience with four major UK design and media companies in the UK: Intro, Zero One, Lost In Space, Not To Scale companies who have created moving images and virtual art for big motion picture productions, commercials and music videos. The dream he submitted as part of his application was to combine graphic design and animation to create commercial films which connect with moving image culture by using digital tools to communicate in new and unique ways.

Sally Blenheim, Visual Artist (2005)

Sally did a three-month residency with Gasworks studios in London. There she met with a number of artists and key industry professionals including the Art Installation Manager at Tate Modern. Her dream was to become a prolific installation artist and have the opportunity to produce site-specific works in world class galleries and public spaces.

Amanda Dunne, Art Director (2005)

As part of her RYD programme Amanda worked at the Beattie Bungay Advertising Agency and with Naked in London giving her the perfect opportunity to immerse herself in the UK's vibrant and creative advertising culture. Amanda’s dream was to be the best in her field and to work alongside the world’s best creative talents.

James Brown, Filmmaker (2005)

James' dream was to become a director of quality film and television drama. Last year he attended an eight-week intensive production course at the New York Film Academy’s Oxford Campus. He was awarded a full scholarship to attend when my film won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004.

Ross Langdon, Architect (2005)

Ross' dream was to start an architecture and urban research collaborative design studio, 'Projects on a City'. The studio will focus on issues relevant to our current urban environment, social and environmental. It will present the ideas of young designers to the public. He used this opportunity to visit major buildings and some of the most influential architecture of my generation and with some of the most creative architects in the UK.

Ben McCarthy, Furniture Designer (2005)

Following his internship with UK designer Tom Dixon Ben joined the team and is producing furniture for the studio. He has also exhibited at the Milan Furniture fair. His dream was to run his own world-class furniture and product design studio in Sydney.

Karen Wong, Interactive TV Producer (2004)

Whilst in the UK Karen worked on several projects at British Sky Broadcasting, (the UK's largest digital pay television platform). She has been involved with BBC interactive television, art directed a DVD for the television show Eastender's and pitched her own Murder Theory interactive DVD concept.

Phoebe Montague, Fashion Designer (2004)

In the UK Phoebe assisted fashion designer Jean-Pierre Braganza, with London Fashion Week preparations. She also worked in the production room of Lara Bohinc, the “cutting edge” jeweler whose pieces are worn by Madonna. She also secured two UK suppliers for her own designs.

Mark Deere, Developer (2003)

At Lionhead Studios in the UK Mark assisted with interface, interaction design and learned about production. At the end of his internship he was offered a graduate position. Currently Mark is planning on making an independent feature film.

Luisa Jean Cooper (2003)

Following an internship with Burberry in the UK luisa returned to Australia and has applied her professional experience in her career.