After three days on intense deliberation, the 54th D&AD Judging Week has come to a close. 749 Pencils have been in awarded in total, decided by juries made up of over 200 of the world’s top creatives. Entrants can visit the official Pencil Winners web portal to see if they've won a Pencil, but they will have to wait until the Awards Ceremony at Battersea Evolution on the 19 May to see if they will be taking home a Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White or Black Pencil. The inaugural D&AD Festival also entered its second day, with speakers including Wayne Hemingway, the founder of Red or Dead, YouTube’s Global Head of Culture and Trends, Kevin Allocca and designer Kate Dawkins who took to the stage at the Old Truman Brewery in East London.
514 D&AD Pencils were awarded on the final day of judging, with juries returning results for: Art Direction (22), Book Design (17); Branded Film Content and Entertainment (26); Branding (26); Digital Design (26); Digital Marketing (38); Direct (35); Film Advertising (51); Film Advertising Crafts (61); Graphic Design (56); Media (30); Music Videos (18); Outdoor Advertising (45); Packaging Design (17); Product Design (19); Spatial Design (10); and Writing for Advertising (17).
Top ranking countries:
- 1st: United Kingdom - 217 Pencils
- 2nd: United States - 143 Pencils
- 3rd: France - 48 Pencils
- 4th: Japan - 44 Pencils
- Joint 5th: Brazil and New Zealand - 30 Pencils
- 7th: Australia - 29 Pencils
- 8th: Singapore - 28 Pencils
- 9th: Germany - 25 Pencils
- Joint 10th: UAE and Colombia - 14 Pencils
Top ranking agencies:
- Grey London - 15 Pencils
- AMV BBDO and R/GA and BBDO New York - 12 Pencils
- Dentsu Tokyo - 11 Pencils
- Ogilvy & Mather London and Droga5 and Y&R Auckland and Ogilvy & Mather Singapore - 10 Pencils
- Google and FCB Chicago and Leo Burnett Chicago - 8 Pencils
After coming joint fourth in the rankings last year, Grey London has taken poll position with 15 Pencils, whilst agencies including AMV BBDO, R/GA and BBDO New York also maintain spots near the top of the table. The in-house team at Google has also enjoyed a successful year, joining advertising agencies in the top 10 with a total of 8 Pencils. All 749 Pencils will appear in the 54th D&AD Annual, to be published later this year. There are no quotas for awards at D&AD, therefore the number of awarded entries fluctuates year to year. Some years no Black Pencils are awarded: the record currently stands at seven. Traditionally the toughest of the awards shows, the judging process is famously rigorous, with the juries only selecting work they believe is truly exceptional.
Andy Sandoz
D&AD President, Andy Sandoz, said: “Black Pencil judging takes place today and is one of the most anticipated - and rigorous - sessions at D&AD. It is also the one that is the most difficult for our jury foremen, because selecting the best of the best from what is already a list of world-beating work is an almost impossible task. I’m excited to see which work, if any, claims a coveted Black Pencil. Today at the D&AD Festival, an exhibition of this year’s submitted work opens for everyone to see. You can view some of the 26,000 pieces of entered work and be inspired by the crème de la crème of global creativity.”
Tim Lindsay
D&AD CEO, Tim Lindsay, added: “A look at the list of this year’s D&AD winners shows how talent in the creative industries is now truly global. There are some notable additions to the top ten nations with the UAE and Colombia winning an impressive 14 pencils each. We have been impressed by the standard of work entered this year and look forward to seeing the final Pencil rankings at the Ceremony on May 19.”
