What you need to know:

• Dentsu wins top search award honours from Google.
• REA wins first in-house agency award.

Dentsu has been named Google's ANZ Agency of the Year in the search giant's honours program, ending a three year winning run by Omnicom-owned Resolution.

Sue Squillace, CEO Dentsu Media ANZ said winning the top award was a "huge result and I’m very proud of all the media teams that were involved across our agencies and markets. To achieve this over 35 other agencies who participated is a tremendous effort, and importantly it’s reflective of amazing outcomes for our clients.”

Dentsu's National Head of Paid Search & Social, Andrew McDonald said his staff deserved Google's recognition: “In what was a challenging year for our search teams, they showed their energy, passion, and commitment to collaboration, driving constant learnings and improvement in our work which was brought to life in the 55 case studies that were submitted throughout the year.”

Other winners included REA Group, with the firm's in-house digital team led by Taylor Boccardo taking home the inaugural in-house team of the year award.