This year’s D&AD New Blood Award hopefuls came from 40 countries.
173 Pencils were awarded – 1 Black, 3 White and 32 Yellow, 40 Graphite and 97 Wood. Winning entries spanned colourful works of art, hi-tech solutions, fought for important causes and exhibited pure craft.
4 Australian entries were awarded Pencils – 3 from universities, 1 from CHE Proximity.
- Yellow Pencil: Down to Business. Up to No Good.
Lina Lindberg, Annabel Cook & Samson Ossedryver @ University of Technology, Sydney
- Yellow Pencil: The After Hours Music Festival
Marina Vasilieva @ Curtin University
- Graphite Pencil: Pass It On
Saori Kunitake & Marie Rimsh @ RMIT University
- Wood Pencil: The Wasted Time Trial
Jake Blood & Josg Thompson @ CHE Proximity
The only Black Pencil was awarded to “Mm-hmm” in response to The National Autistic Society brief. Student creatives Hannah McNally and Martha Halliday from Kingston University drew on personal experience to create their winning film.
“We know there are many joys and sorrows to autism, much like the ups and downs of life. Therefore, we did not want to sugar-coat the daily thoughts and concerns of the carers. We feel the hard-hitting message we are giving must be expressed more; to showcase the help and understanding The National Autistic Society provides families and individuals when they face the transition into adulthood,” they commented.
D&AD President Bruce Duckworth commented, “The word on everybody’s lips when it came to the Black Pencil winner was ‘beautiful’. An emotive and intelligent campaign, Mm-hmm united the judges almost unanimously when it came to choosing this as the winner. It was not only a great showcase of raw talent, it was produced brilliantly and with passion. You really feel like the students put everything into it.”
Winning Work:
The Black Pencil Winner
National Autistic Society – “Mm-hmm”
Winners: Hannah McNally and Martha Halliday
College: Kingston University
“A compassionate and emotional piece of storytelling that uses a beautiful animation style to give the viewer a real life insight.” [Tom Purser, Head of Campaigns and Public Engagement, the National Autistic Society]
The White Pencil Winners
Monotype – Fabric of the Nation
Winner: Sian MacFarlane
College: Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
Monotype – Radical Good
Winner: Jingwei Liang
College: School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Respect for Animals – Snap Together for Animals
Winners: Violette Van den Berg and Aron Meier
College: AMFI – Amsterdam Fashion Institute
Adobe – That’s Not My Name
Winner: Jeppe Vidstrup
College: DMJX: Kreativ Kommunikation
Amazon – Local Just Got Closer
Winner: Matt Holmes
College: University of Lincoln
Arjowiggins – Colorgram
Winners: Jack Welles and Danae Gosset
College: School of Visual Arts
Crowne Plaza – Down to Business. Up to No Good.
Winners: Lina Lindberg, Annabel Cook and Samson Ossedryver
College: University of Technology Sydney
Hasbro – Entangled Party Game
Winners: Lorena Romero, Manuel Francisco Marticó Bello, Andrea Loureiro and Rita Sánchez Villar
College: EASD Pablo Picasso
See all the winners here. Meet the Class of 2017 here.
The New Blood Awards program allows students to work on real briefs set by real clients, providing the most accurate representation possible of the challenges of a real job. Brand representatives and industry experts decide what work wins a New Blood Pencil, and the bar every year is extremely high.
Entry to the awards is open to anyone in full or part-time education, recent graduates who finished their course within the past two years and anyone 23 or under.
All Pencil winners were eligible to apply for the WPP New Blood Academy, where 50 graduates attend a two-week creative boot camp, where they learn from the best in the business, working alongside WPP agencies on a live brief in order to secure a foot-in-the-door with a series of paid placements up for grabs.
