The One Club for Creativity has chosen 100+ creative professionals from 41 countries who will serve on the jury for the global Young Guns 23 competition, the industry’s only global, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies and celebrates today’s vanguard of young creative professionals. The program is open to those ages 30 and under who have been working for at least two years, full-time or freelance. Eligible entrants can submit a combination of professional and personal work.
A sampling of jury members, including past YG winners includes:
- Paulina Almira, freelance artist, Sorsogon
- Alex Booker, ECD, BBDO New York
- Larry Buchanan, journalist, The New York Times, New York (YG12)
- Niko Courtelis, creative director, partner, Plazm, Portland (YG2)
- Paul Felton, co-founder, creative director, Common Curiosity, Lichfield/London (YG13)
- Andre Gray, CCO, Havas New York
- Hilary Greenbaum, director of graphic design and brand creative, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
- Meeto Grevsen, film director, Kind, Copenhagen
- Jonathan Katav, design director, COLLINS New York
- Adetutu Laditan, founder, creative director, Woof Studios, Lagos
- Sofia López, creative lead, TikTok, Mexico City
- Oskar Lübeck, founder, CCO, Bold Scandinavia / NOA, Stockholm
- Giordano Maestrelli, film director, Stink Films, London (YG22)
- Prerna Mehra, ECD, MullenLowe MENA, Dubai
- Javin Mo, founder, design director, Milkxhake, Hong Kong (YG5)
- Joanne O’Neill, art director, HarperCollins Publishers, New York
- Driscoll Reid, CCO, Cossette Toronto (YG5)
- Marjorieth Sanmartin, CCO, Philipp und Keuntje, Hamburg
- Samantha Scaloni, ECD, DDB Group Italy, Milan
- Tanu Sinha, head of design, PepsiCo India & South Asia, PepsiCo, Gurgaon
- Scott Stowell, proprietor, Open, New York (YG3)
- Daukantė Subaciute, illustrator, Save, Vilnius (YG19)
- Raimundo Undurraga, CCO, VML Santiago
- Cece Wyldeck, EMEA director of creative development, MassiveMusic, Amsterdam
Kellie Campbell-Illingworth (YG8), creative director at Parallax in Adelaide, and Jef Wong, ECD at Designworks in Auckland, have been chiosen from AUNZ.
View the complete list of Young Guns 23 judges here.
The online entry system is open, with the reduced-fee early deadline of August 14, 2025, regular deadline August 28, 2025, and final deadline September 18, 2025. Winners will be announced in December. The competitions regularly attract entries from upwards of 45 countries, with more than half coming from outside the US.
Levine/Leavitt, a long-time YG partner, will once again offer its Artists-in-Residence Award in which the artist rep firm provides one YG winner with a full year of artist and career management representation.
Also continuing this year is the Levine/Leavitt Young Guns Assistance Program, open to illustrators and photographers who qualify for YG23 but may not have the means to enter with ease. Successful applicants receive free entry into the competition courtesy of Levine/Leavitt.
All Young Guns winners receive a unique version of the Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the Young Guns website.
Winners also receive a complimentary one-year One Club for Creativity membership, permanent membership in the Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in Young Guns events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from Young Guns sponsors.
Past Young Guns include rising stars who went on to become leaders in their chosen fields, including Oscar-winning film director duo DANIELS(Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) (YG14), “Top Gun Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski (YG4); graphic designers James Victore (YG1), Stefan Sagmeister (YG1), Natasha Jen (YG4) and Jessica Walsh (YG8); artist/designer Rich Tu (YG8); ad creatives Rei Inamoto (YG4) and Menno Kluin (YG6); illustrators Christoph Niemann (YG2) and Deanne Cheuk (YG4); fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond (YG14); artist/filmmaker Calmatic (YG16); director/photographer India Sleem (YG17); photographer Ryan McGuinness (YG2); typographers Alex Trochut(YG6) and Gemma O’Brien (YG13); animation artist Todd St. John (YG1), and others.
Program branding and design of the Young Guns Cube award itself are reimagined each year by a past Young Gun winner. This year’s branding was created by YG23 jury member Khyati Trehan (YG19), a graphic designer and 3D visual artist originally from New Delhi and now a senior designer at Google Creative Lab in New York.
