Topping the 51st D&AD Awards this evening were four Black Pencil recipients and one White Pencil winner, with 51 Yellow Pencils awarded to the best of the world’s design, advertising and communications work.
Black Pencils are bestowed upon work that is not just considered the best in the world in its category, but for pieces of design or advertising that have fundamentally changed the rules of the category. The four Black Pencils this year were awarded to:
o McCann Erickson Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” for Metro Trains (Integrated & Earned Campaigns) scooped up one of the top accolades
o 4creative’s “Meet the Superhumans” for Channel 4 (TV & Cinema Communications);
o Heatherwick Studio’s “Olympic Cauldron” for the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Spatial Design/Installations)
o And GOV.UK’s website for Her Majesty’s Government (Writing for Websites & Digital Design).
Incorporated into this year’s awards for the first time was a coveted White Pencil, established to recognize work that can affect real and positive change in the world. The White Pencil went to Droga5, New York for it Help Remedies “Help! I Want to Save a Life” campaign.
This year’s 51 Yellow Pencils acknowledged work that is judged to be the best in the world, selected from projects that receive a nomination during judging.
Receiving the highest number of Yellow Pencils this year was McCann Erickson Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” (Australia), which scooped Yellow Pencils across five categories (Art Direction, Earned Media Campaigns, Digital Advertising, TV & Cinema Advertising and Writing for Film Advertising) as well as taking a Black Pencil.
Another significant winner was 4creative, for its “Meet the Superhumans” campaign (UK), which was awarded Yellow Pencils across four categories for Editing for Film Advertising, TV & Cinema Communications, Direction for Film Advertising and Use of Music for Film Advertising as well as a Black Pencil.
Other campaigns taking multiple awards were R/GA’s “Nike+ FuelBand” (US), taking three Yellow Pencils, while Leica Store S�o Paulo’s “Soul” (Brazil) and 20th Century Fox’s “Prometheus Viral ‘David'” (UK) each won two Yellow Pencils.
In total, 618 awards were given by 2013 D&AD juries across In-Book, Nominations and Yellow, Black & White Pencils, with work from over 35 countries recognized.
Film Advertising Crafts was the category awarded the greatest number of Yellow Pencils–12.
The most awarded categories overall (across In-Book, Nominated & Yellow Pencil work) were:
The Graphic Design category, taking 100 gongs, including two Yellow Pencils
TV & Cinema Advertising with 46 pieces of creative work awarded, including three Yellow Pencils
Digital Advertising with 40 awards, including three Yellow Pencils
Conversely, juries in the Book Design, Magazine & Newspaper Design and Press Advertising categories did not award any pencils this year.
Countdown by country
The UK led a strong showing, scooping up 202 awards overall, including three Black Pencils and 17 Yellow Pencils. Work from the US also did well, with entries gaining 113 awards in total (of which 13 were Yellow Pencils).
In 2013, European nations performed well, with Sweden and France leading the way in the region with 16 Awards each, of which two were Yellow Pencils. German work picked up 13 awards overall, including two Yellow Pencils.
Australia had a particularly strong year, achieving 50 awards overall, including a Black Pencil and seven Yellow Pencils, whilst work from New Zealand scooped 15 awards overall including 2 Yellow Pencils. The region put in a record performance taking 65 awards overall.
Meanwhile, work from Asia was also well recognized, with Japan leading the region with 26 awards, including two Yellow Pencils, followed by Singapore, who took 16 awards overall (with one Yellow Pencil). China scooped up 7 awards overall (of which one Yellow Pencil) whilst Thailand gained five In-Books.
Brazil topped the Latin American league table of awards, with 29 pieces of work recognized by the juries, including four Yellow Pencils, a record 37 percent increase in awards from 2012.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More