Get experience working on briefs for brands such as Nike, Google, Twitter, spanning disciplines such as games design, experiential, advertising, branding and typography.
Have you work seen and judged by some of the industry’s most prominent figures.
Give yourself the chance to win a Pencil and participate in the D&AD New Blood Academy.
D&AD has released the briefs for the New Blood Awards 2020, marking the 40th anniversary of one of the largest awards for emerging creatives.
This year, there are no upper age limits to entry, reflecting how people are increasingly kickstarting creative careers at various stages of life.
The D&AD new Blood Awards invite emerging creatives to harness their creativity to tackle commercial challenges alongside social issues, proposing solutions for both cultural issues and business problems.
The Awards are designed to help make emerging creatives work-ready, upskilling them to succeed in their careers and meet the demands of the ever-changing industry.
As D&AD New Blood enters its fortieth year, the original mission – to champion, educate and support emerging creative talent to get a foothold in the creative world – remains. In its anniversary year, D&AD New Blood hopes to spotlight and champion the importance of creative education, in a climate where costs of higher education are rising, creative subjects are in decline and creative careers can still be largely misunderstood.
Paul Drake, foundation director at D&AD, commented, “D&AD is globally renowned for championing creative excellence and we have a deep-seated belief that new talent and education is fundamental to excellence, which is why D&AD New Blood is at the heart of D&AD.
“We’ve developed the briefs to challenge emerging creatives, in order to prepare them with the skills needed for the world of work to ultimately help bridge the gap between what education teaches and what the industry requires. We want to help new talent realise what they can achieve given the right platform and opportunity. Over the past 40 years of New Blood, we have grown our network of expertise so that we’re best equipped to help people to break into creative careers. We believe that creativity is not limited to any age, which is why we removed the age requirements for our Awards. We hope to inspire others to discover their creative potential.”
Entrants to the D&AD New Blood Awards will be in the running to win with one of the industry’s most prestigious creative accolades, a New Blood Pencil. D&AD New Blood winners will also be eligible to apply for the ultimate prize, a place on the D&AD New Blood Academy. Run in conjunction with WPP, the Academy is a creative boot camp where participants learn from the best in the business and gain skills and insights to help kick-start creative careers.
As part of New Blood’s mission to help and empower new creatives looking to get into the industry, D&AD has also partnered with WPP for the second year of Make and Break – a six episode podcast drawing on the advice, mentorship and learnings from the New Blood Academy.
Beats Radio presenter, Naina Sethi, returns to host the series and is joined by a line-up of interesting creatives at various stages of their careers across different disciplines such as design, advertising and social media. This series reflects the journey of a creative entering the industry and will be covering the top issues people need to know when starting out, such as developing a personal brand, keeping to your values and defining success. The podcast will be released later this month.
The D&AD New Blood Awards are open to students and anyone aged 18 or over who has not yet started their creative career.
Find more information on eligibility and how to enter, and download the briefs, here.
Applications are open until March 24.
New Blood 2020 brands:
| Brand | Discipline | Description of brief |
| Audible | Out of Home, Advertising, Campaign | Make Audible relevant to people who want to get the most out of their free time |
| Barclays | UX/UI/Interaction & Service Design | How can Barclays help vulnerable customers who have mental health issues manage their money better? |
| BBC | UX/UI/Interaction, Digital Product & Service Design | Use the BBC to create a new intersection of physical and data |
| Burger King | To be released in Autumn 2020 | To be released in Autumn 2020 |
| Connect4Climate | Campaign | Inspire meaningful behaviour change towards a sustainable lifestyle |
| durex | To be released in Autumn 2020 | To be released in Autumn 2020 |
| giffgaff | Open challenge | Unlock the power of 5G for the giffgaff community |
| Google & HMCT | Typography & Graphic Design | Typographic Notes: The empowerment of music |
| HSBC | Illustration & animation | Illustrate HSBC’s brand promise ‘Together we thrive’ |
| Intel | Advertising, Digital Campaign & Social Media | Put Intel at the heart of PC purchase |
| MARTINI | Experiential, Graphic Design, Social Media & PR | Encourage people to choose time for friends during MARTINI TIME |
| Nike | Campaign & Service Design | Make NikePlus Membership the #1 community for 14-19 year old girls in 2020 |
| Penguin | Product/Service Design | Heighten the reading experience for young people with Penguin |
| Rare & Xbox | Game Design | Create a game that helps players create stories together |
| The Case For Her & Teen Vogue | Branded Content | Use branded content to challenge ideas around female pleasure and sexual wellness |
| The LEGO Group | Advertising & Campaign | ‘Rebuild the World’ of teenage creativity |
| PR & Social Media | Develop a PR-first idea that spotlights the #RetroGaming conversation on Twitter | |
| VBAT | Superunion | Branding & Graphic Design | Brand a bike hire scheme in your city |
| YULA | Copywriting & Campaign | Create a campaign that makes YULA the go-to natural energy drink |






