179 D&AD New Blood Awards Pencils have been awarded following the invitation by leading global brands for emerging creatives to respond to a series of briefs tackling environmental issues, human connections and other challenges such as technology inclusivity.
3 Black Pencils, 22 Yellow Pencils, 45 Graphite Pencils & 3 White Pencils were awarded.
Black Pencil winners were:
- Time To Change, by Craig Carson, UK
A symbol inspired by an ancient Native American symbol meaning Time to Change. This symbol anchors a campaign that harnesses art and culture to galvanise support for transitioning away from fossil fuels. The symbol has been crafted so it can be easily replicated as a hand gesture so that it can be used as a universal symbol bridging cultural and language divides.

- Unnatural Poetry, by Jonathan Fecola, Agnese Bernaus, Maria Meola & Alessandro Ronchetti, Italy
Responds to Google’s request to choose a poem and stress its words using Google’s emerging fonts and typography. The team eliminated all references to nature from the poems that, due to climate change, are in danger of disappearing forever.

- Scan to Revolt, by Boyan Zlatarski, Henry Coffey, Callum Leitenberg, Alexander Ward & Emanuela Kerencheva, US.
This idea aims to arm Gen Z’s creative rebellion against sameness and design clichés using Adobe Express and Photoshop. It provides them with a platform to scan clichés and replace them with their own creations on platforms like TikTok.

The competition had over 6,000 entrants, from over 60 countries and more than 3,000 entries were judged anonymously by over 150 judges. The work was evaluated based on idea, insight, and suggested execution. Although all work is conceptual and the intellectual property belongs to the entrant, any of the brands setting the briefs can choose to move forward with a winning idea by employing the winning creatives and collaborating with them professionally to develop the concept further.
This year, emerging creatives were invited to respond to a series of briefs set by leading global brands including Google, Adobe, Airbnb, Bumble, Coca-Cola, Nandos, Universal Music, HSBC and more. Covering a wide range of disciplines including UX/UI, animation, advertising, typography and experiential, the briefs were designed to provide new talent with the experience of working on client briefs. These 18 briefs tackled varying commercial challenges and social issues, including asking entrants to create a festival event poster (Universal Music), create a banner icon for the fossil fuel free movement (Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty), a design brief to break down barriers to sexual freedom (Durex and Design Bridge), and a brief to create an inclusive future for the connected home (Sky).
The presentation ceremony took place following the New Blood Festival at Protein Studios in Shoreditch, London July 2-4, where the work has been on display in a graduate showcase of more than 40 exhibiting university courses, alongside talks by industry leaders and portfolio reviews aimed at helping emerging creatives navigate the industry.
Paul Drake, foundations director at D&AD, commented, “In a time when creativity is becoming increasingly vital to global economies, it has never been more important to celebrate the next generation of talent. For 44 years, D&AD’s New Blood has showcased the best emerging creatives from various disciplines, who are getting ready to leave education and join the industry. Explore the winning work, meet the creators behind it, give them an opportunity.”