The 56th D&AD Professional Awards Ceremony took place Thursday evening (4/27) in London, where three Black Pencils--the competition’s highest accolade were awarded.

Host/Havas claimed one Black Pencil for its Palau Pledge campaign for the Palau Legacy Project, which requires visitors to Palau to sign a passport pledge to act in an ecologically responsible way on the island. 

Saatchi & Saatchi NY took home a Black Pencil for their "It’s a Tide Ad" campaign, which took over the airwaves during this year’s Super Bowl. 

McCann New York was awarded a Black Pencil for "Fearless Girl," the bronze statue of a defiant young girl facing the iconic ‘Charging Bull’ on Wall Street, commissioned to highlight State Street Global Advisors’ gender diversity index fund.

In total, 721 Pencils were awarded during D&AD Judging 2018. The number of Pencils awarded by level are as follows:  

• Black Pencil - 3 Pencils
• Yellow Pencil - 74 Pencils
• Graphite Pencil - 156 Pencils 
• Wood Pencil - 488 Pencils

D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay commented: “This has been an outstanding year for creativity. We received entries from 50 countries across all continents, attesting to the truly global nature of our programme and the impact of D&AD in stimulating and celebrating talent from around the world. Three Black Pencils have been awarded, two of which use creativity as a means to create a better world. But we’ve also seen a marked focus on humour and playfulness. Design and advertising can be used to encourage debate and engender social discourse, but it can and should also entertain. Also, sell stuff. In the current social and economic climate, we need all of the above.”

Most awarded 
Top 3 Most Awarded Design Agencies are:

• Jones Knowles Ritchie – five Pencils including one yellow, one graphite and four wood
• The New York Times Magazine
• The Guardian 

Top 3 Most Awarded Advertising Agencies are:

• BBDO New York – 26 Pencils including three yellow, 12 graphite and 11 wood 
• McCann New York
• AMVBBDO

Top 3 Most Awarded Production Companies are:

• MJZ – six Pencils including three yellow, two graphite and one wood
• Riff Raff
• Somesuch

Most Awarded clients:

• State Street Global Advisors
• Burger King
• Apple

Results by country 
For the second consecutive year, the United States has topped the country rankings - with the United Kingdom coming in second and Japan third. 

• United States - 194 Pencils
• United Kingdom - 165 Pencils
• Japan - 49 Pencils 

For the full breakdown of winners by category and Pencil level, including most awarded and country rankings, click here.    

President’s Award
This year the President’s Award goes to Colleen DeCourcy and Susan Hoffman from Wieden + Kennedy. 

D&AD president Steve Vranakis commented: “Every D&AD President gets to choose one of their creative heroes to give the President’s Award to. They’re always giants of our industry, hugely awarded, respected by the whole community, great achievers, groundbreaking creative practitioners and much-loved leaders. This year we celebrate the extraordinary achievement in advertising of not one, but two such leaders: Colleen DeCourcy and Susan Hoffman. Together, they co-chief and creative-direct one of the world’s finest creative agencies, Wieden + Kennedy, an agency we all know, love and respect. I am hugely honored to recognize their achievement and their outstanding contribution to creative excellence.”