There is no pre-ordained number of Pencils at any D&AD judging. That 7 Black Pencils were awarded says that adland’s creativity is alive and thriving. 

Seven is the highest number of Black Pencils ever awarded at D&AD Professional Awards…And socially progressive, ethical and innovative advertising and design are where adland is demonstrating excellence.

For the first time ever, the White Pencil jury handed out two Black Pencils.

Tim Lindsay, Chief Executive of D&AD, commented: ‘When we launched the White Pencil in partnership with Unilever in 2012, it raised a few eyebrows. To introduce the first new pencil in D&AD’s fifty-plus year history was a bold move; how would the industry respond to it? Would the calibre of work be the innovative, groundbreaking variety we were looking for? Not just charity, NGO or public service campaigns, but work that truly demonstrated you can ‘do well by doing good’; where the commercial and CSR agendas properly intersected.

“So to see not one, but two, Black Pencils awarded to White Pencil category entrants is a significant indicator of the direction the business is moving in. Across the board we’ve seen a real desire from our juries to recognise and reward ideas that are original, beautifully executed and that make a positive difference to people’s lives.

The two Black Pencil + White Pencil winners are:

Gravity Light – the life-changing invention of Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves won its Black Pencil Design.

Sweetie – powerful and provocative and praised by the UN for its role in helping children’s charity Terre Des Hommes to identify over 1,000 online sexual predators, won its Black Pencil in Advertising and Marketing Communications.

The seven Black Pencils were awarded to creative work from six different nations. The Netherlands won two:

CSPD 2012 Annual Report by WAX Partnership for Calgary Society for Persons with Disabilities (Writing for Design – Annual Reports) – Canada

Gravity Light by Therefore (White Pencil – Design) – United Kingdom

Improving Safety and Comfort on Train Platforms by Edenspiekermann for NS/ProRail  (Digital Design – Technological Innovation) – Netherlands

Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989’ by Dentsu Tokyo for Honda (Digital Marketing – Sound Design & Use of Music for Digital Marketing) – Japan

Sweetie by LEMZ for Terre des Hommes (White Pencil – Advertising & Marketing Communications) – Netherlands

The Epic Split by Forsman & Bodenfors for Volvo Trucks (Digital Marketing – Online Branded Films) – Sweden

The Most Powerful Arm by Finch for Save Our Sons (Digital Design – Technological Innovation) – Australia

2014 D&AD Awards tally:

There were 52 Yellow Pencils and two White Pencils awarded to campaigns from 17 different countries.

144 campaigns achieved Nominations and a further 480 were awarded In Book status.

So there were 680 awards in total across 43 different countries.

A three-way tie for Most Pencils:

Three different campaigns tied for the most awarded campaign, with two Yellow Pencils and a Black each:

• Sweetie by LEMZ
• Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989 by Dentsu Tokyo
• The Epic Split by Forsman & Bodenfors

Other campaigns winning two Yellow Pencils:

• Real Beauty Sketches by Ogilvy & Mather Brazil for Dove
• Magic of Flying by OgilvyOne Worldwide for British Airways
• Gesaffelstein – Pursuit by Iconoclast

Most Awarded campaigns and companies:

• Dentsu Tokyo’s Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989 was the most highly awarded campaign overall.
• Denstu Tokyo was Most Awarded Digital Agency, with one Black Pencil, two Yellow Pencils, one Nomination and four In Book Awards.
• Ogilvy & Mather Paris was Most Awarded Advertising Agency, with a string of Nominations and In Book awards for its work with IBM.
• Apple was the Most Awarded Design Agency, earning a Yellow Pencil for its Mac Pro.
• Unilever was Most Awarded Client
• Bacon was Most Awarded Production Company

Most Awarded countries:

• Most Awarded country is The UK(again) with 182 awards, including 9 Yellow Pencils, one White Pencil and one Black Pencil.
• Runner-up was the US with 12 Yellow Pencils among its 123 awards.
• France (Europe had an outstanding year) with 48 awards (3 Yellow Pencils) – a 200% increase on its 2013 tally of 16.
• Sweden won 5 Yellow Pencils (13 Pencils) and the Netherlands’ won two Black Pencils, one White Pencil and three Yellow Pencils.
• Australia came fifth in the world with 37 awards, including three Yellow Pencils and one Black Pencil.
• Japan led Asia with 40 awards (including six Yellow Pencils and one Black Pencil).
• Brazil was the top Latin America country with 37 awards with two Yellow Pencils.
• India had a year to remember. It jumped from 2 awards in 2013 to 25 awards in 2014.

President’s Award:

Alexandra Taylor was announced as the recipient of the President’s Award, selected by current D&AD President Laura Jordan-Bambach to become the first woman in advertising to receive the prestigious award. Widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s most respected and acclaimed art directors, Alexandra has over 200 entries in the D&AD Annual throughout her career.

With award-winning credits for Silk Cut, Castlemaine XXXX, Parkinson’s UK and the acclaimed ‘Be the Best’ campaign for the British Army, she was also the first woman to be nominated onto the D&AD executive board in 1998, serving two terms.

Australia’s Yellow Pencils winners are:

Black Pencil + Yellow Pencil: The Most Powerful Arm by Finch and Havas Worldwide Australia for Save Our Sons (Digital Design – Technological Innovation) – Australia

New Zealand’s Yellow Pencil winners are: