The final results for the 57th D&AD Awards have been unveiled, with DDB Worldwide named D&AD Network of the Year 2019. Also, Europe has been confirmed as the top ranking region for D&AD winners.

In rank order, the Network of the Year derby broke down like this:

1. DDB Worldwide--D&AD Network of the Year
2. BBDO Worldwide
3. McCann
4. Ogilvy
5. TBWA\Worldwide

The D&AD Awards 2019 Regional rankings are as follows:

• 1. Europe
• 2. North America
• 3. Asia
• 4. South America
• 5. Oceania
• 6. Africa

As earlier reported, six Black and 58 Yellow Pencils were awarded at this year’s D&AD Awards. To recap the Black Pencil honorees, Droga5 and Furlined each won a Black Pencil 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.

718 Pencils
The D&AD Pencil is regarded as one of the creative industry’s highest accolades with juries only selecting work they believe is truly exceptional. This, plus the fact that there are no quotas for awards at D&AD, means the number of awarded entries fluctuates year to year. In some years, no Black Pencils - reserved for work that is groundbreaking within its field - are awarded; the record currently stands at just seven.

In total, 718 Pencils were awarded at D&AD Awards 2019. The number of Pencils awarded by level and number of entries that were shortlisted, are as follows:  

• Black Pencil - 6 Pencils (2 Advertising, 2 Design, 2 Craft)
• Yellow Pencil - 58 Pencils
• Graphite Pencil - 195 Pencils 
• Wood Pencil - 459 Pencils
• Shortlisted - 889

New for 2019, the D&AD Awards Shortlist was introduced this year in order to acknowledge the volume of high caliber 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, and after careful calculations we are proud to be able to recognise the networks and regions who have collectively delivered the most outstanding creative work from the past year. I can confidently say that the work we have seen over this year’s D&AD Awards has been an inspiration that will prove to be an invaluable resource for creatives worldwide within this year’s Annual.”

Winning work is showcased on the D&AD website (click here), in international exhibitions and within the D&AD Annual, which will be published in autumn 2019