D&AD Awards has chosen more than 300 top creatives from 50 countries throughout the world to determine the winners of its 2025 Pencils in 44 categories. Jury members will  come together for live judging of the past year’s best work across the global commercial creative industries, including design, advertising, film and entertainment. And they will award creative excellence on the premise that creativity drives commercial, economic, social and cultural success and will recognise work that inspires the talent of today and tomorrow.

The 63rd annual D&AD Awards will be held at the County Hall and Southbank Centre on the London Southbank. There will befour days of live judging from May 18 to 22, 2025. The D&AD Awards Ceremony, the grand finale of the D&AD Festival, will take place on May 22 at the Southbank Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Building.

The D&AD Pencil is the grand master of  the world’s awards for creatives working within the commercial creative industries. Wood Pencils are awarded for the best work of the year, Graphite Pencils are awarded for stand-out work that rises above the rest, Yellow Pencils are awarded only to outstanding work that achieves true creative excellence, and coveted Black Pencils, very few of which, if any, are awarded each year are reserved for groundbreaking work.

Each panel of international industry experts will be overseen by a Jury President:

Plus:

• Frederico Gelli, co-founder and CEO of Tátil 
• Johanna Roca, Creative Venture Partner at Accept & Proceed
• Karl Haddad, Head of Global Creative Lab at TikTok…

…will lead new categories dedicated to Brand Identity Refresh, New Brand Identity and Creator Content.

Donal Keenan, COO at D&AD, commented, “Judging the D&AD Awards is not only a massive honour but a huge responsibility to uphold the integrity, rigour and standards that D&AD is renowned for. Entries to these awards actively support D&AD’s mission as an educational charity by funding learning programmes that bridge the gap between education and industry. This is made possible by these top calibre professionals from around the world offering their time, wisdom and expertise.”

Find the complete list of confirmed judges by country here.

D&AD Awards 2025 is now open for entry. Find full details on categories, judging criteria, pricing and deadlines, on the D&AD website.

Tickets for D&AD Festival 2025 are now on sale. Book by midnight on Monday 24 February to get 30% off.

Key Dates:

• 5 February 2025: Early Bird (20% off) deadline 23:59 GMT. Once you have paid for your entries you have until 12 February to finalise your submission.
• 12 March 2025: Final Deadline 23:59 GMT.  Once you have paid for your entries you have until 19 March to finalise your submission.
• 18–21 May 2025: D&AD Awards Judging
• 20–21 May 2025: Shortlist Announcement
  21–22 May 2025: D&AD Festival
  22 May 2025: D&AD Pencil Presentation Ceremony        
• September 2025: Rankings, Annual Report Launch