D&AD announced 2018 New Blood Award winners

This year’s edition of New Blood Award announced its winners, with 194 pencils awarded in total, selected from thousands of entries submitted from 54 countries. The full list of winners is available on the D&AD website .

The winners impressed the judges with their creative thinking and practical skills, receiving one very prestigious creative accolade: a New Blood Pencil.

From the total of 194 Pencils awarded, one was a Black Pencil. There were also 4 White Pencils and 29 Yellow Pencils, 40 Graphite and 120 Wood Pencils. Judges also awarded Best Stand and selected 39 graduates from 1000 exhibiting students for it’s ‘One to Watch’ award.

Winning entries ranged from the playful – giving a nod to the fun that youth culture can add to advertising – to tackling important current issues such as homelessness, environmental impact, access to education, unsolicited imagery and feminism. Entries spanned across the full spectrum of design disciplines from digital design, illustration and graphics to intricately crafted animation, pointing to a rich culture for future commercial creativity.

One Black Pencil was awarded this year, to #DearMrHousingMinister in response to the Nationwide and Shelter brief. Naomi Taylor from the School of Communication Arts 2.0 impressed the judges with her work, which was described as ‘a powerful, emotive and relevant piece grounded in humanity and hardship’. The judges further commented that her ‘spine-chillingly apt account of the housing crisis’ should be the level that future professional D&AD entries should be measured against. Naomi will certainly be one to watch.

Tim Lindsay, CEO of D&AD commented:

#DearMrHousingMinister offers a fresh perspective to an old problem and is a worthy winner for this year’s awards. It embodies what a New Blood Pencil is all about. It also speaks to the important role of creative thinking as a powerful tool for change. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. Looking at the quality of work, I’m confident that the future of our industry is in capable hands.

With more than 126,000 brief downloads to 116 countries, 2018 was a record year for the program.

The New Blood Awards are a platform for students and other new creatives to showcase their talents on real briefs, set by real clients. No other program offers such a comprehensive test, or a more accurate representation of the challenges that await on the other side. Brand representatives and industry experts decide what work wins a coveted New Blood Pencil, and the bar every year is extremely high.

Entry to the awards is open to anyone in full or part-time education, recent graduates who finished their course within the past two years and anyone 23 or under.

All Pencil winners were eligible to apply for the New Blood Academy 2018 with WPP, where 50 graduates attend a two-week creative bootcamp. The Academy provides an opportunity to learn from the best in the business, with attendees working alongside WPP agencies on a live brief in order to secure a foot-in-the-door with a series of paid placements up for grabs. This year students will be working alongside creative luminaries as well as working on a live brief in their final week.