Their Animated Short "Taking the Plunge" garners coveted Black Cube
For the first time in ADC Annual Awards history–which spans some 95 years–the top honor, the ADC Black Cube signifying Best in Show, went to a group of students. The young coterie of talent consists of Thadaeus Andreades, Marie Raoult, Nicholas Manfredi and Elizabeth Ku-Herrero, students from the School of Visual Arts Computer Art, Animation and Visual Effects curriculum. Under thesis advisor Joe Burrascano, these students created Taking the Plunge, an animated short about a marriage proposal gone wrong. And the Plunge in turn took the Black Cube.
”Taking the Plunge presents a confluence of extraordinary skill, thoughtfulness, story, heart and dedication brought to life at the very beginning of some young careers,” said Rama Allen, executive creative director, The Mill, who served as chair of the ADC 95th Annual Awards Motion jury. “We would have applauded the remarkable craftsmanship of this piece regardless of how much experience lay behind it, but we felt the rare early talent we saw deserved to be recognized with a commensurate honor. We congratulate the SVA team for some damn good filmmaking that made us laugh, exclaim and even feel a little bit jealous.”
Based on ADC Awards across all categories, other top ADC honors this year included: Leo Burnett Worldwide earning Network of the Year distinction; BBDO New York being named Ad Agency of the Year; R/GA, NY taking the Digital Agency of the Year mantle; Dentsu, Tokyo, being designated Design Agency of the Year; Australia’s Goodoil Films being tabbed Production Company of the Year; Loterias Y Apuestas Del Estado, Madrid, Spain, being selected Client of the Year; and of course given the Black Cube result, the School of Visual Arts, NY, being School of the Year.
Additional notable winners included Leo Burnett Madrid, Leo Burnett Melbourne, The Martin Agency and Venables Bell & Partners with two Golds each, and Goodby Silverstein & Partners with six ADC Cubes, including one Gold. This year’s ADC 95th Annual Awards winners represent 25 countries, reflecting the program’s global reach.
For a full rundown of the ADC 95th Annual Awards winners, click here.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More