The $2,500 cash prize and four-month internship dangled by this year’s Canadian Direct Marketing Scholarship have been awarded to Ottawa’s Sean MacPhedran and Montreal’s Barry Stafford.

Hopefuls in the competition – which was sponsored by Toronto’s Arnold Brand Response and Lowe RMP – were asked to submit a 1,000-word essay on why e-mail is going to be the killer marketing app. According to both agencies, the two winners stood head and shoulders above the competition.

Peter Coish, president of Lowe RMP, particularly appreciated MacPhedran’s humour. ‘We do get a lot of essays that tend to be academic,’ said Coish. ‘We thought his essay had the requisite creativity that it takes to succeed in this business and it was also consistent with the agency philosophy.’

Denis Baschiera, SVP, director client services at Arnold Brand Response, praised Stafford’s organization and thoughtfulness. ‘He argued that if [e-mail marketing] is really relevant to the recipient you get the benefit of having it forwarded so [there is a] whole viral component and I really like that.’

Stafford will graduate this year with a bachelor of commerce from the John Molson School of Business at Montreal’s Concordia University where he is majoring in marketing. MacPhedran is currently enrolled in Ottawa-based Carleton University’s bachelor of commerce program with a concentration in marketing.

Now in its fourth year, the Canadian Direct Marketing Scholarship for business students is riding a new wave of interest. The two agencies received a record 45 entries, compared to ‘low 30s’ last year, according to Coish. He attributes the rise to increased promotion via on-site posters, reaching out to placement offices on campus and professors making a point of announcing the scholarship in their classes.

Strategy is a media sponsor for the scholarship competition.