The 57th D&AD Professional Awards ceremony took place this evening in London, where six Black Pencils–the competition’s highest honor–were awarded.
Droga5 and Furlined won Black Pencils for The New York Times' “The Truth is Worth It” campaign, which sheds light on the rigor behind journalism, chronicling the lengths that reporters will go to in order to uncover the truth.
Wieden+Kennedy claimed a Black Pencil in Integrated for its "Dream Crazy" campaign for Nike, led by the controversial NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, which, on the 30th anniversary of “Just Do It,” celebrated athletes who dreamed crazy, featuring household names like Serena Williams to a girl on a high-school football team. The centerpiece spot was produced by Park Pictures.
BWM Dentsu took home a Black Pencil in Digital Design for its "Project Revoice" campaign for The ALS Association. Project Revoice is a digital voice clone that integrates with text-to-speech devices, giving people with ALS (Motor Neurone Disease) the ability to speak in their own voice, even after they physically can’t.
Xbox Adaptive Controller by Microsoft won a Black Pencil in Product Design for a unified hub for devices that helps make gaming more accessible, that was designed primarily to meet the needs of gamers with limited mobility.
And "Viva La Vulva by Somesuch" and AMV BBDO for Libresse won a Black Pencil for Direction with their campaign designed to foster an open, positive culture to enable women to feel proud and comfortable about talking and caring about their genitals.
Final tally
In total, 720 Pencils were awarded during D&AD judging 2019. The number of Pencils awarded by level are as follows:
- Black Pencil – 6 Pencils (2 Advertising, 2 Design, 2 Craft)
- Yellow Pencil – 58 Pencils
- Graphite Pencil – 196 Pencils
- Wood Pencil – 460 Pencils
Although not awarded with a Pencil at the D&AD Awards Ceremony, an additional 889 entries made the Shortlist this year. Announced live throughout judging (18 – 20 May), the D&AD Awards Shortlist was introduced in order to acknowledge the volume of high calibre submissions that, even if they didn’t win a Pencil, were in close consideration.
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay commented: “It has been another outstanding year for global creativity, with entries received from 73 countries. The theme for this year’s festival has been “Shaping the Future” and that’s very much been reflected in the campaigns we’ve had the privilege of seeing, many of which attests to the power of creativity to help build a better future. The work I have seen has been fantastic and everyone on the jury and everyone who has seen the final list of Pencil-winning work has been knocked out by the quality. It is a hugely encouraging sign for the buoyant and vibrant direction of our industry.”
Companies of the Year
Top 3 Advertising Agencies of the Year are:
- Droga5 – D&AD Advertising Agency of the Year 2019
- adam&eveDDB
- McCann New York
Top 3 Design Agencies of the Year are:
- Jones Knowles Ritchie – D&AD Design Agency of the Year 2019
- SERVICEPLAN
- Apple
Top 3 Production Companies of the Year are:
- Academy Films – D&AD Production Company of the Year 2019
- Furlined
- Somesuch
Top 3 Clients of the Year are:
- Apple – D&AD Client of the Year 2019
- The New York Times
- Mars
Results by country
United States topped the country rankings – with the United Kingdom coming in second and Germany third.
“Next” winners
This year also saw an additional 17 Pencils awarded to “Next” winners. Next is a new D&AD Award subcategory for 2019, introduced in order to recognise individual creatives, designers and crafts practitioners who have worked for no more than three years in the creative industries.
Collaborative award
The two winners of this year’s Collaborative Award were adam&eveDDB and John Lewis & Partners (Advertising) and Design Bridge and Fortnum & Mason (Design). The D&AD Collaborative Award, launched this year, is a special award for client collaborations to applaud brave and innovative collaborations between clients and agencies alike. The award is designed to celebrate collaborations which have produced a successive body of work achieving outstanding creative excellence and success over a number of years.
President’s Award
This year the President’s Award, the highest D&AD accolade reserved for a chosen few from the creative world, goes to artist and stage designer Es Devlin. D&AD president Harriet Devoy commented: “I am delighted to present this year’s D&AD President’s Award to the unique talent that is Es Devlin. For over two decades she’s designed sets for the world’s leading theatre and opera companies. And her creations for the biggest artists in music mean her work has shaped the Instagram memories of millions. Her craft is incredible. Its scale, awe-inspiring. She turns spaces into spectacles and makes magic happen in front of our eyes. She doesn’t just break the fourth wall, she shatters it in ways no designer has before.”
For a rundown of winners, click here. D&AD will announce Network of the Year and regional rankings in early June.
