The One Club for Creativity calls for entries for Global Young Guns 17

Cristina Blanaru Creativity

The One Club for Creativity, the world’s foremost non-profit organization recognizing creative excellence in advertising and design, has opened the call for entries for Young Guns 17, celebrating international creative professionals age 30 or younger.

Young Guns is the industry’s only global, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies and celebrates today’s vanguard of young creatives. The renowned competitions regularly attract entries from upwards of 70 countries, with more than half of coming from outside the US.  Winners will be selected by a jury made up of past Young Guns winners and other creative leaders, to be announced shortly.

The program is open to creatives age 30 and under who have been working for at least two years, full-time or freelance.  Eligible entrants can submit a combination of professional and personal work in graphic design; advertising art direction and copywriting; architectural, environmental and interior design; industrial and product design; digital (UX/UI, experiential design, interactive, web design, apps, game development): film and animation (motion design, television, video); fashion; typography and lettering; illustration and photography.

Program branding is recreated each year by a past YG winners. This year’s branding is designed by Hey Studio, Barcelona, founded by Verònica Fuerte (YG7).

The online entry system is open.  For the early deadline of June 30, 2019, entry fee is USD$100 for The One Club members, USD$150 for non-members.  Entries received from July 1 through the final deadline of July 26, 2019 have a fee of USD$150. for One Club members and USD$200. for non-members.

This year’s winners will be recognized at the Young Guns 17 celebration and party in  New York this November.

Past Young Guns include rising stars who went on to become leaders in their chosen fields, including graphic designers James Victore (YG1), Stefan Sagmeister (YG1) and Jessica Walsh (YG8); advertising creatives Rei Inamoto (YG4) and Menno Kluin (YG6); illustrators Christoph Niemann (YG2) and Deanne Cheuk (YG4); photographers Ryan McGuinness (YG2) and Jeremy Floto/Cassandra Warner (aka floto+warner, YG5); typographers Alex Trochut (YG6) and Gemma O’Brien (YG13); film and video director Mike Mills, animation artist Todd St. John (YG1) and others.

All Young Guns winners will receive a unique version of the iconic Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the Young Guns website.  Winners also receive a complimentary one-year One Club for Creativity membership, permanent membership in the Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in Young Guns events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from Young Guns sponsors.

“Young Guns has a unique place in the creative world for considering a body of both professional and personal work from an individual, not just a single design or ad,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club.  “Winning is special because we’re celebrating a creative person’s individuality.”

He added that Young Guns plays an important part in the club’s objective of offering recognition and support for creatives throughout every phase of their careers.

“Young Guns plays a key role in our programming because it celebrates and elevates the next generation of creative leaders, and serves as a lifelong network for winners who often reconnect over the years to refer work, collaborate on projects and help advance each other’s careers,” said Swanepoel.

Program branding and design of the Cube award itself is recreated each year by a past Young Gun winner.  This year’s YG17 branding and award are designed by Hey Studio, Barcelona, founded by Verònica Fuerte (YG7).

The design concept is based around a spotlight.  According to Fuerte, light is the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.  Similarly, Young Guns is a program that sheds light on innovative work and great portfolios from young creatives who will shape the future of creative thinking.  The spotlight — in the form of a cube container and cube base — highlights the people and talent behind this year’s Young Guns 17 Cube winners.

Young Guns 17 and other One Club activities are made possible in part through the generous support of sponsors including Levine/Leavitt and Shutterstock.

The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards and Creative Week, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community.  The One Show is a top global awards show for advertising, design and digital marketing focusing on creativity of ideas and quality of execution.  The global ADC Annual Awards honors creative excellence in craft, design and innovation across all disciplines.  Creative Week takes place in New York City every May and is the preeminent festival celebrating the intersection of advertising and the arts.