Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way… to the top spot

20 December 2019
  • Jamie Durie and Allianz Australia announce winners of Spotlight Your Sparkle – a national competition awarding the best festive home light displays in Australia
  • 1x winner from 6x states was awarded $1,000 cash prize, with another $1,000 donated to a charity of their choice
  • $6,000 raised for Aussie charities, including; Lights for Kids, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Share the Dignity, Perth Children’s Hospital, Heart Foundation, The Smith Family

Allianz Australia is proud to announce the winners of its nationwide search for the very best Christmas light displays in homes across Australia. The Spotlight Your Sparkle competition awards $1,000 to each state winner, and an additional $1,000 to each state winner’s nominated local charity.

  • NSW/ACT: Peter Overton of Quakers Hills made use of palm trees and a real-life Christmas tree to form the feature of his display. Peter chose Light for Kids as his charity of choice
  • VIC: Tom Sykes of Kew East, constructed a fairy light Christmas tree installation in his front yard, and used LEDs to highlight the structure of the house. Tom is donating to Starlight Children’s Foundation
  • SA: Beverley Bradwell of Woodcroft, for her castle-like design, perfect symmetry and beautiful message displayed, with not a light out of place. Beverley has chosen to donate to Share the Dignity
  • WA: Marie Vranjes of Dalyellup covered every part of her home and yard with festive lights and created a home for families to visit Santa. Marie has chosen Perth Children’s Hospital as her charity
  • QLD: Yvonne Miles of Sandstone Point used a mixture of lights and life-size decorations to bring the spirit of Christmas to their community. Yvonne has chosen to donate to the Heart Foundation
  • TAS: [Name withheld] of Burnie, created a two-story masterpiece covering every tree and native plant in their garden with lights, and adorned the home with dazzling lights and inflatable festive displays. Charity: The Smith Family

Judged by representatives from News Corp, Allianz and Allianz’s Chief Festive Officer, international award winning designer and TV presenter, Jamie Durie, the Spotlight Your Sparkle competition was created to recognise and reward those who go above and beyond to bring joy to their community throughout the festive season.

“The calibre of entries submitted in Allianz’s Spotlight Your Sparkle competition was seriously impressive – we had a tough job picking just one winner from each of the states. So many hours of thought and preparation has gone into lighting up these homes and the joy they have brought to their communities is truly inspiring,” said Jamie Durie.

“Personally, I was looking for innovative displays, sustainable styles and well-thought-out designs and Australia really did deliver! It’s all about making use of what is already existing in our homes and decorating in a truly Australian way, and our winners really exemplified this.

“Our selected winners really stood out for me because of their ability to not only decorate with creative flair, but also in a sustainable way. The Overton Family from NSW really blew me away with their sleek designs and use of the huge conifer tree in their front garden, and the Bradwell Family from SA, made their home a castle, with their fun festive execution,” Jamie said.

According to Allianz research over half Aussies (54.8 per cent) have decked their homes out with light displays in celebration of Christmas and the majority (80.3 per cent) of people believe festive lights are one of the most important ways of celebrating Christmas in Australia.

Nick Adams, Chief Market Manager at Allianz Australia said: “Christmas really brings the community together and the entries brought to life just how much Christmas light displays contribute to our festive spirit.

“We are so proud to have seen Australians far and wide giving back to their local communities through their lights display, particularly at a time that can be tough for some. It was even more encouraging to see so many families lighting up their homes to raise money for charity and we are pleased to support that effort through the prize money for the families and their chosen charities.

“We want to offer a huge congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all of those who entered – it was definitely stiff competition, and creativity and community spirit was in abundance.

“Nearly two-thirds of Australians who light up their homes do so in order to spread Christmas joy with passers-by and we’ve been thrilled to provide a platform for Australians to do just that. With that in mind, I am pleased to announce Allianz Australia will be hosting Spotlight Your Sparkle in 2020. We can’t wait to see how Australia lights up next year!” said Nick.

NSW/ACT: Peter Overton of Quakers Hills
NSW/ACT: Peter Overton of Quakers Hills
VIC: Tom Sykes of Kew East
SA: Beverley Bradwell of Woodcroft
WA: Marie Vranjes of Dalyellup
QLD: Yvonne Miles of Sandstone Point
TAS: [Name withheld] of Burnie

Allianz commissioned Pure Profile to conduct a consumer survey in November 2019. The survey was a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 Australian adult respondents (18+). The survey was carried out online. Key findings:
 

  • 54.8 per cent of respondents deck their homes out with a festive light display
  • 80.3 per cent believe festive lights are an important part of celebrating the Christmas season
  • 60 per cent say they put up their festive light displays to get into the Christmas spirit
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Allianz Australia has been securing the future of our customers in Australia since 1914. We deliver a wide range of personal and commercial insurance products and services to more than 4 million policyholders. We also provide support for workers' compensation insurance to around 25% of the top 200 ASX companies, making us one of the leading workers' compensation insurers in Australia.

Allianz Australia Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the worldwide Allianz Group. The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with corporate customers in more than 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life, and health insurance to assistance services, credit insurance and global business insurance. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
This article has been prepared by Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFSL234708 (“Allianz”). In some cases, information has been provided to us by third parties and while that information is believed to be accurate and reliable, its accuracy is not guaranteed in any way.

Any opinions expressed constitute our views at the time of issue and are subject to change. Neither Allianz, nor its employees or directors give any warranty of accuracy or accept responsibility for any loss or liability incurred by you in respect of any error, omission or misrepresentation in this article.
Allianz acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work across Australia. We pay our respect to First Nations Elders past and present.



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