D&AD 2016: 2 Black Pencils, 3 White Pencils and 747 Pencils in total

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Festivals & Awards

The 54th D&AD Professional Awards Ceremony took place last night (19 May) in London, where two Black Pencils were awarded – the highest accolade in the creative industry.

As well as being the most awarded design agency at the Ceremony, UK technology startup what3words claimed a Black Pencil for their pioneering method of communicating precise locations around the world. iyamadesign also won a Black Pencil for their spatial design of the mt expo 2015 in Japan, on behalf of masking tape brand Kamoi Kakoshi

Black Pencil awarded work:

Christian Davies, FITCH ECD Americas, Foreman for Spatial and Experiential Design talked about the judging process “We talked a lot about work that we viewed as game changing. We talked about the responsibility of sending a message to the design community to say this [a Black Pencil winner] will change the way we look at design. We also talked about the iconic work that had won in the past, and how you remember the impact it had.

“mt expo 2015 was beautiful in its simplicity. I thought it was a piece of work that inspired wonder in the people that experienced it.

“There was a common theme that was to discuss the backlash against ‘digital for digital’s sake’. So I voted for something that was beautifully simple.”

Three White Pencils were also awarded, recognising work which demonstrates outstanding creativity for social good.

White Pencil awarded work:

The ‘Creativity for Good (White Pencil)’ category launched as a standalone awards show in April this year in partnership with Advertising Week parent company Stillwell Partners, under the new name, D&AD Impact.

In total, 747 Pencils were awarded during D&AD Judging 2016. The number of Pencils awarded by level are as follows:

  • Black Pencil – 2
  • White Pencil – 3
  • Yellow Pencil – 61
  • Graphite Pencil – 149
  • Wood Pencil – 532

D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay commented: “We’ve seen a record number of entries and some truly wonderful work, including stand-out pieces of creative thinking in our new Media and PR categories. Equally pleasing is that putting purpose alongside profit and seeking to ‘do well by doing good’ is driving increasing numbers of incredibly high quality work for some very big brands. We love it when the commercial agenda and the sustainability agenda begin to intersect.’”

Most awarded

Y&R New Zealand was crowned the Most Awarded Advertising Agency of 2016, winning 10 Pencils in total, including 6 Yellow Pencils, 1 Graphite Pencil and 1 Wood Pencil for its work with the Burger King Corporation on the ‘McWhopper’ campaign.

Technology startup what3words was the Most Awarded Design Agency, whilst DIVISION was recognised as Most Awarded Production Company and Burger King Corporation was the Most Awarded Client.

Most Awarded Advertising Agency:

  1. Y&R New Zealand
  2. = Droga5 and AMVBBDO
  3. Grey London

Most Awarded Design Agency:

  1. what3words
  2. seymourpowell
  3. = johnson banks and The Partners

Most Awarded Production Company:

  1. DIVISION
  2. The Mill
  3. 4Creative

Most Awarded Client:

  1. Burger King
  2. Sky
  3. Volvo

Results by country

The United Kingdom topped the rankings again with a total of 217 Pencils, including 14 Yellow Pencils, 1 White Pencil and 1 Black Pencil. The US followed in second place, with 143 Pencils overall, of which 12 were Yellow, with France in third place, winning 6 Yellow Pencils and 48 Pencils in total.

Japan led the way in Asia, with 1 Black Pencil and 4 Yellow Pencils amongst their haul of 42 Pencils overall, whilst Brazil topped the table for Latin America, with a total of 30 Pencils, including 1 White Pencil.

New Zealand, who came in joint fifth position with Brazil (with 30 Pencils), claimed the third highest number of Yellow Pencils by country, with 11.

President’s Award

This year the President’s Award has gone to Steve Henry, co-founder of Decoded and one of the founders and creative partner of the world-renowned advertising agency HHCL. Working as part of the team that netted HHCL Campaign’s “Agency of the Decade”, Steve’s work is iconic. He is perhaps most renowned for his “You’ve Been Tango’d” commercials, alongside other well-known catchphrases such as Ronseal’s “does what it says on the tin”. His influence continues to be felt in the industry today.

D&AD President Andy Sandoz commented:

“Steve Henry’s work and approach has inspired, shaken and awoken a generation of today’s Creative Directors. Populist TV, diversity, tech start-up, purpose and education – it’s all here. As engaged today as ever, he’s the person I most enjoy trying to reimagine the industry with over a cup of tea.”

Winners for two awards, separate to the Professional Awards, were also announced at the Ceremony. The Next Photographer Award, in partnership with Getty Images, sets out to find the best new photographers and promote them back to the creative industry. This year’s winner is Hong Kong-Chinese photographer Tam Hoi Ying.

James Day, Foreman:

The overall standard of submissions for the Next Photographer award was very high but the Jury was unanimous in its decision to award the work of Tam Hoi Ying. We were all extremely impressed with the level of thought and execution which Tam brought to the subject matter and we all wish them the best of luck in what I’m sure will be a very successful career.

The Next Director Award, which aims to unearth the best new directorial talent, was given to British animation director Daisy Jacobs.

Director, Dougal Wilson, one the Next Director judges:

A beautifully innovative animation technique that expressed the film’s story in a deeply emotional and affecting way.

Since 1962, D&AD has been inspiring a community of creative thinkers by celebrating and stimulating the finest in design and advertising. A D&AD Award is recognised globally as the ultimate creative accolade, entered and attended by the best from around the world.