D&AD New Blood award winners revealed

Last night, 288 winners from 49 countries took away prize pencils at D&AD student and graduate awards show New Blood.

Pantone, Colourful Accents
Pantone, Colourful Accents

The winners of the D&AD New Blood awards 2015 have been announced.

The New Blood awards are given to students, graduates of the last two years and those under 23, with the aim of celebrating up-and-coming designers.

This year, there were 288 winners from 49 countries, who received wood, graphite, yellow, white and black pencils, with black being the most prestigious award.

Clients which wrote briefs this year included Airbnb, BBC, WWF, Nationwide, Facebook, John Lewis, Pantone, i-D, npower, Monotype, TalkTalk, VICE, WeTransfer and WPP.

Mark Bonner, president of D&AD who hosted the awards ceremony, says: “Everyone nominated was in the top 6% of entrants – we had to narrow it down from thousands of entries. We’re here to set and raise the creative benchmark for advertisers and designers, and that benchmark was at the Awards.”

The winners

41 designers received a yellow pencil, four a white pencil and three a black pencil.

White pencils were awarded to those whose “creativity inspired thought and change”. These went to the creators of Colourful Accents for Pantone, Endangered Soles and One World Hero for WWF, and How It Should Be for Nationwide.

WWF, Endangered Soles
WWF, Endangered Soles
WWF, One World Hero
WWF, One World Hero

John Trainor, 21-year-old graduate from School of Communications Arts 2.0 who worked on the Endangered Soles WWF brief, says of the awards: “It drives younger people and gives them something to aim for. It made us work every day for the last three weeks.”

Black pencil winners included creators of How It Should Be for Nationwide, Project Monsoon for Pantone and When I’m a Dad for WeTransfer.

Nationwide, How It Should Be
Nationwide, How It Should Be
Pantone, Project Monsoon
Pantone, Project Monsoon
WeTransfer, When I'm a Dad
WeTransfer, When I’m a Dad

How It Should Be, designed by students from School of Communication Arts 2.0, challenged the gender pay gap, while Project Monsoon, created by students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, saw the streets of Seoul in South Korea painted with water-activated paint.

When I’m a Dad, from the University of Lincoln, was a print and digital execution that aimed to create inspiring connotations of fatherhood.

Pencil winners are eligible to apply for the New Blood Academy following the awards, a two-week creative training course supported by WPP, which provides opportunities for paid work placements.


The full list of D&AD New Blood 2015 award winners can be viewed here.

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