D&AD has announced the judges for its 2021 Awards, who will choose the exceptional work created within the past year. Fourteen judges come from Australia and four from New Zealand, including Allison Brownmoore, creative director & founder of Past Curfew, who will head up the Visual Effects category. 

Following the success of the 2020 Awards, D&AD’s jurors will once again assemble virtually to review the work, holding each piece to the same high standards for which the Awards are known. The only exceptions are the Branding, Graphic, Product, Packaging, Book, Magazine & Newspaper Design and Writing for Design categories, where in-person judging is essential. 

The panels for this year’s awards will be led by some of the industry’s biggest and brightest names including Ratna Desai, director of product design at Netflix, heading up the Digital Design jury; Jayanta Jenkins, global head of marketing at Disney+, leading the Experiential category, and Sergio Gordilho, co-president & CCO of Africa, leading the Art Direction jury.

Australia’s D&AD judges are:

1. Visual Effects – Allison Brownmoore, Creative Director & Founder, Past Curfew (Jury President) 
2. Art Direction – Barbara Humphries, Creative Director, The Monkeys
3. Branding – Patrick Guerrera, Founder & Chief Executive, Officer Re| Sydney
4. Digital – Vince Lagana, Executive Creative Director, The Monkeys
5. Direction – Richard Bullock, Director, Revolver/Hungry Man
6. E-Commerce – Scott Dungate, Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo
7. Editing – Elise Butt, Editor, Trim Editing
8. Entertainment – Pete Baker, Film and Experiential Director & Senior Partner, The Glue Society
9. Graphic Design – Jo Roca,  Creative Director, For The People
10. Impact – Vince Frost, Founder Design, Your Life
11. Photography – Belle Verdiglione, Photographer & Business Coach,  Belle Verdiglione Photography
12. Production Design – Fiona Crombie, Production Designer, Fiona Crombie
13. Radio & Audio – Lesley Chambers, Producer & Voice Casting Professional, The Casting Chambers
14. Side Hustle – Sarah Vincenzini, Associate Creative Director, M&C Saatchi Australia

New Zealand’s judges are: 

1. Design Transformation – Felicity Stevens, Strategy Director, Alt Group
2. Digital Design – Nick de Jardine, Designer & Developer, Grafik
3. Illustration – Amanda Gaskin, Creative Director, Seachange
4. Type Design – Kris Sowersby, Typeface Designer, Klim Type Foundry

The D&AD Awards have evolved to match changes in the creative industries. Its new categories this year aim to represent the changing landscape of the creative sector, each being judged by leading figures within each discipline. Among these are E-commerce, a category encompassing everything from purchase experience to brand partnerships, with Jean Lin, global CEO of Dentsu Inc acting as jury president. Director of UNIT9, Rosh Singh, will lead the new Gaming category. Type Design has also been established as a standalone category this year, aiming to award the best design of single font styles and font families, with Panos Vassiliou, head of creative at Parachute Typefoundry, leading the Jury.

Two categories, Writing for Design and Writing for Advertising, have been reintroduced as distinct categories, with Russell Davies, VP of marketing at Bulb and Eric Kallman, CEO & co-founder of Erich & Kallman, as the respective Jury Presidents. 

Donal Keenan, awards director at D&AD, commented, “We are always striving to award the most ambitious, thought provoking work through the D&AD Awards, which can only be achieved through the expertise of our judges. Last year’s jury showed us that the meticulous judging process can be successfully replicated in a virtual fashion, something we are continuing this year. There is no doubt that our exciting list of industry experts will once again take the challenge in their stride and reflect D&AD’s pride in the celebration of the creative industries.”

Find the full list of this year’s juries, as well as details for the new categories, judging criteria and pricing, here.

Key Dates:

• 24 November 2020 – Awards Launch – Open for Entries
• January 2021 – Juries announced 
• 13 January 2021 – Super Early Bird Deadline, 40% discount ends
• 17 February 2021 – Early Bird Deadline, 20% discount ends
• 17 March 2021 – Final Deadline
• April – May 2021 – Virtual and Live Judging
• 18 May 2021 – Craft, Advertising, Culture, Impact, Side Hustle, and Next Shortlists Announced
• 24 May 2021 – Design and Writing for Design Shortlists Announced
• 25 – 28 May 2021 – D&AD Festival
• 26 & 27 May 2021 – D&AD Awards Ceremonies
• September 2021 – D&AD Annual published