Australia takes home six Yellow Pencils, five Graphite Pencils and 18 Wood Pencils on first night of the D&AD Awards 2023; Yellow Pencils to The Monkeys, R/GA, Special and Thinkerbell
Following the first of two Award ceremonies taking place at BFI Southbank, London, D&AD has awarded Australia with six Yellow Pencils, five Graphite Pencils and 18 Wood Pencils.
The Monkeys and R/GA Australia have scored two Yellow Pencils apiece, whilst Special and Thinkerbell have scored one apiece.
The Monkeys campaign for The Government of Tuvalu entitled ‘The First Digital Nation’ has scored two Yellow Pencils, one Graphite Pencil and two Wood Pencils.
R/GA Australia has been awarded two Yellow Pencils for We Are Warriors plus one Wood Pencil for MOCA ‘Museum of Chinese in Australia‘.
Special’s ‘Middle Seat Lottery’ campaign for Virgin Australia Group has scored one Yellow Pencil, one Graphite Pencil and one Wood Pencil. Thinkerbell has scored its Yellow Pencil for Lion ‘Furphy, What the Truck!?’.
Scoring one Graphite apiece is TBWASydney / Eleven / Fleishmanhillard for Consent Labs ‘Classify Consent’ and StudioBand for Kin Seafood.
VMLY&R Australia has won one Graphite Pencil and three Wood Pencils. The agency scored a Graphite Pencile and a Wood Pencil for Defence Force Recruiting ‘The Audio Ad You Can See’ plus two Wood Pencils for Honest Eggs Co. ‘FitCHIX’.
Australian agencies with two Wood Pencils apiece include Leo Burnett Australia for Suncorp ‘Resilience Road’ and NGV ‘What Makes You Bleed’ and CHEP Network for Samsung ‘Flipvertising’.
Scoring one Wood Pencil apiece is M&C Saatchi for Commonwealth Bank / x15 Ventures ‘Kit’, Ogilvy Australia for KFC ‘Left-Handed’, BMF for ALDI Australia ‘Special You Can Buy’, Base Design / Zolo Press for Biennale of Sydney ‘Rīvus, 23rd Biennale of Sydney’, For The People for Time dotCOM ‘Time’, Josephmark for RCA Records and Biscuit Filmworks London / Revolver for Uber Eats ‘Embrace the Art of Doing Less’.
The remaining Craft, Side Hustle, Design, Culture and Impact winners, alongside the Companies of the Year and President’s Award, will be announced the following evening, 25 May.
D&AD celebrates creative excellence with the belief that creativity is a key driver in commercial, economic, social and cultural success. The Awards incorporates more than 40 categories judged by nearly 400 of the world’s leading creatives, recognising work that will inspire seasoned talent and encourage the next generation. As a charity, entries enable D&AD to fund educational programs such as D&AD Shift with Google, a free, industry-led night school for self-taught creatives from under-represented backgrounds.
This year, there were a record number of entries to the Awards, with nearly 30,000 individual pieces of work making up the 12,243 entries. At Wednesday’s ceremony, one Black Pencil, the creative industry’s most coveted accolade reserved only for truly groundbreaking work, was awarded.
DIVISION received a Black Pencil in the Visual Effects/ Craft category for Pharrell, 21 Savage and Tyler, The Creator’s music video, CASH IN, CASH OUT, using CGI animation to create avatars of the three musicians dancing in a magical environment.
Two Collaborative Pencils are awarded, celebrating innovative and long-lasting partnerships. These go to Iyama Design and Kamoi Kakoshi Co, Japan, for ongoing work with MT MASKING TAPE that started with the development of a logo through to a promotional exhibition still held around the world today; and Ogilvy UK and Unilever for A 66-YEAR PARTNERSHIP, a collaboration that began in 1957 when a certain David Ogilvy wrote the first print advert for the Dove beauty bar.
Says Donal Keenan, Awards director at D&AD: “This first round of winners reflects the strong standing of craft at the D&AD Awards with the first-ever Black Pencil for Visual Effects. An outstanding piece of work that swept the board in many other production craft categories this year. We can also see from the Collaborative Award how brands can successfully drive positive change in society and also build commercial brand success. Well done to the winners for setting that example.”
All Pencil winning & shortlisted entries are showcased on the D&AD website.
D&AD highlights the most exceptional work from the past 12 months, following a rigorous judging process. Famously tough to win, there are no Pencil quotas for D&AD Awards, so the number of awarded entries fluctuates each year. In some years, no Black Pencils are awarded. The highest ever awarded in one year currently stands at seven.
Australia:
Yellow Pencil Winners:
R/GA Australia for We Are Warriors (x2)
The Monkeys for The Government of Tuvalu ‘The First Digital Nation’ (x2)
Special for Virgin Australia Group ‘Middle Seat Lottery’
Thinkerbell for Furphy ‘What The Truck?!’
Graphite Pencil Winners:
Special for Virgin Australia Group ‘Middle Seat Lottery’
TBWASydney / Eleven / Fleishmanhillard for Consent Labs ‘Classify Consent
StudioBand for Kin Seafood
The Monkeys for The Government of Tuvalu ‘The First Digital Nation’
Wood Pencil Winners:
M&C Saatchi for Commonwealth Bank / x15 Ventures ‘Kit’
Ogilvy Australia for KFC ‘Left-Handed’
Leo Burnett Australia for Suncorp ‘Resilience Road’
Leo Burnett Australia for NGV ‘What Makes You Bleed’
CHEP Network for Samsung ‘Flipvertising’ (x2)
VMLY&R Australia for Honest Eggs Co. ‘FitCHIX’ (x2)
VMLY&R Australia for Defence Force Recruiting ‘The Audio Ad You Can See’ (x2)
BMF for ALDI Australia ‘Special You Can Buy’
R/GA Australia for MOCA ‘Museum of Chinese in Australia’
Base Design / Zolo Press for Biennale of Sydney ‘Rīvus, 23rd Biennale of Sydney’
The Monkeys for The Government of Tuvalu ‘The First Digital Nation’ (x2)
Special for Virgin Australia Group ‘Middle Seat Lottery’
For The People for Time dotCOM ‘Time’
Josephmark for RCA Records
Biscuit Filmworks London / Revolver for Uber Eats ‘Embrace the Art of Doing Less’