Terms & Conditions
The nitty gritty details on what you can enter.
D&AD exists to stimulate, enable and award creative excellence in design and advertising.
Considered by many the world’s most prestigious benchmark for commercial creativity. The D&AD Pencil stands for rigour and integrity. Everything that it takes to make the best creative work.
D&AD Awards 2025 are now open for entries — pay for your entry by 4 December to receive 30% off.
D&AD is an education charity that promotes and enables excellence in design and advertising. Each year, D&AD Awards gather the world's best creative work from across the commercial design, advertising, production and craft disciplines to be judged by more than 300 global creative leaders, practitioners and innovators.
Winning a D&AD Pencil will earn your work exposure to an audience of millions in the creative industries around the world through international press coverage, exhibitions, promotion on the D&AD website, social platforms, and newsletters, and the opportunity to be featured in D&AD content unpacking creative excellence within the D&AD Annual.
Don’t just take our word for it. Find out more about why you should enter here.
To learn more about categories, prices and all the information required for entering the awards, register or download the entry kit below.
応募要項PDFをダウンロードするにはアカウント登録が必要です。
Deberás estar registrado para descargar la guía.
Você precisará estar cadastrado para baixar o guia.
Pour apprendre plus sur les catégories, prix, et toutes les informations requises pour le concours, enregistrer ou télécharger le guide ci-dessous.
要了解更多有关类别,价格和参加奖项所需的所有信息,请在下面注册或下载
The D&AD Awards are constantly evolving, to ensure there’s a place for everyone to enter their best work.
We frequently revise our categories and subcategories, so you may see some small adjustments as you look through the 2025 Entry Kit. Watch out for the ‘new’ symbols identifying key changes.
The branding category had over 900 submissions in 2024 and as a result has become more challenging for jury members to judge. It has also been noted that smaller brand work rises to the top more frequently at D&AD in comparison to very large multinational brand work. As both are valid in the creative landscape, we wanted to ensure that both types of work can be awarded. We have decided to split Branding into two new categories, and put it in it’s own discipline: New Brand Identity and Brand Identity Refresh. Other key things to note:
—We have added subcategories for Brand Strategy
—We have added a new subcategory for the brands with over 50,000 employees and changed the scale on micro, small and medium enterprises
—We have increased the eligibility window to 2 years to allow more big brand work to land/ be implemented, giving entrants options to hold off entry for an additional year if they wish
—We are changing the way to ask for supporting information, allowing PDF uploads for concept or guidelines work to ensure there is a better understanding of what is implemented by brands and what is proof of concept/brand guideline work which may or may not be implemented in future
The landscape of creativity and creative excellence is always changing, with a significant number of exciting new creatives no longer being designers or copywriters, but creators. We want to give these creatives their own space to be recognised and have introduced a Creator Content category for 2025.
With this work previously recognised as subcategories across several other categories and in our Digital & Social Category (now Digital Marketing) we have separated Creator Content out in order to recognise the difference between top notch advertising for social, and the strategic use of the creativity of creators and influencers to deliver success for brands.
You can also find ‘Use of Creator’ and ‘Use of Talent’ subcategories in the following categories: Casting, Entertainment, Experiential, Media and PR. Creators and Influencers are those with more niche audiences, who’s fame is born from their creativity and success creating content. They secure high engagement by collaborating with brands that align with their own values, and the content is produced and posted by them to their channels. Talent includes celebrities who are already well-known, and use their fame to influence their audiences on platforms.
Collaborative was a special award that celebrates long-lasting relationships between clients, agencies and production companies that have resulted in consistently inspiring creative outputs over time. Although we still believe the ethos of the Collaborative Award remains true, the industry feedback suggested it was hard to enter and judge true collaboration so we have chosen to retire the category for now.
Following the introduction of Creative Transformation in 2022, we’ve seen some great entries and winners, however the category raised many questions from judges and entrants. Having reviewed the submissions for the past few years, we noticed that the majority of submissions were entered into multiple categories, and that many entries aligned with brand strategy.
So with the reshaping of the branding categories to include and recognise Brand Strategy we’ve decided to retire the Creative Transformation category and steer those true brand transformational and strategic work to the branding juries.
Please look at the entry kit for information on the following new subcategories:
Cinematography / 15 Seconds & Under Direction / 15 Seconds & Under
Editing / 15 Seconds & Under Production Design / 15 Seconds & Under
Editing / Trailers & Teasers
Gaming & Virtual Worlds / Trailers
Gaming & Virtual Worlds / Audio-Visual Craft
Health & Wellbeing / Animated
Pharma / Animated
Luxury / Branding
Photography / Editorial
Digital Design / UI in Motion
Watch out for the ‘new’ symbols identifying key changes in the 2025 Entry Kit.
D&AD are supporters of Ad Net Zero, committed to decarbonising the advertising industry and promoting sustainable consumer behaviour change. In order to help understand the level of commitment and progress towards net zero targets D&AD joined other Ad Net Zero supporters in 2024 to ask whether agencies and brands have science-based Net Zero targets in place.
For 2025, we’re continuing to ask these questions along with additional project-related questions to help further our understanding of the progress of the world’s best creative work.
Submitting this information is mandatory but is for research purposes only. Your response will not be passed on to the judges or affect your eligibility for the awards.
Most questions can be answered by checking our dedicated FAQs page. If you still need to speak to someone, you can call the Awards team on +44 (0) 207 840 1111. Lines are open from 9.30–5.30pm GMT.
Digital Marketing
Film
Integrated
Press & Outdoor
Radio & Audio
Brand Identity Refresh
New Brand Identity
Animation
Art Direction
Casting
Cinematography
Direction
Editing
Illustration
Photography
Production Design
Sound Design & Use of Music
Typography
Visual Effects
Writing for Advertising
Writing for Design
Book Design
Digital Design
Graphic Design
Magazine & Newspaper Design
Packaging Design
Product Design
Spatial Design
Type Design & Lettering
Commerce
Creator Content
Direct
Experiential: Activation & Participation
Luxury
Media
PR
Entertainment
Gaming & Virtual Worlds
Music Videos
Health & Wellbeing
Pharma
Future Impact
Impact
Sustained Impact
Animation
Art Direction
Book Design
Brand Identity Refresh
Casting
Cinematography
Commerce
Creator Content
Digital Design
Digital Marketing
Direct
Direction
Editing
Entertainment
Experiential: Activation & Participation
Film
Future Impact
Gaming & Virtual Worlds
Graphic Design
Health & Wellbeing
Illustration
Impact
Integrated
Luxury
Magazine & Newspaper Design
Media
Music Videos
New Brand Identity
Packaging Design
Pharma
Photography
PR
Press & Outdoor
Product Design
Production Design
Radio & Audio
Sound Design & Use of Music
Spatial Design
Sustained Impact
Type Design & Lettering
Typography
Visual Effects
Writing for Advertising
Writing for Design
The award that makes creative careers. The ultimate standard of excellence.
Enter now to show our judges that your work has what it takes. And enter by 4 December to save 30%. Further discounts apply for small businesses and freelancers.
Animation
Melody Sylvester, Global Managing Director & EP Commercials, Common People Films
Art Direction
Saulo Rocha, Chief Creative Officer, DAVID Madrid
Book Design
Johanna Neurath, Chair, Thames & Hudson Publishing Ltd
Brand Identity Refresh
Frederico Gelli, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Tátil Design
Casting
Selma Nicholls, Casting Director, Looks Like Me Casting
Cinematography
Sally Campbell, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Somesuch
Commerce
Ben Coulson, Chief Creative Officer ANZ, Dentsu Creative
Creator Content
Karl Haddad, Head of Global Creative Lab, TikTok
Digital Design
Akae Wang, Head of Creative, Banana Balloon
Digital Marketing
Marco Giannelli (Pernil), Chief Creative Officer, AlmapBBDO
Direct
Stéphane Xiberras, President & Chief Creative Officer BETC, Head of Havas Global Creative Council, BETC
Direction
Justyna Obasi, Director, Lovesong/Anorak
Editing
Fouad Gaber, Film Editor, Cabin Edit
Entertainment
Debbi Vandeven, Global Chief Creative Officer, VML
Experiential: Activation & Participation
Dennis May, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe Germany
Film
Pelle Sjoenell, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Droga5
Future Impact
Paco Conde, Co-Founder & Executive Creative Director, Activista
Gaming & Virtual Worlds
Joey David Tiempo, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Octopus&Whale
Graphic Design
Pum Lefebure, Chief Creative Officer, Design Army
Health & Wellbeing
Renata Maia, Chief Creative Officer, NA, Ogilvy Health
Illustration
Helen Parker, Founder & Director/Co-Founder, EVERYONE Agency Ltd/Something for Everyone
Impact
Paco Conde, Co-Founder & Executive Creative Director, Activista
Integrated
Keith Cartwright, Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Cartwright
Luxury
Boyoung Lee, EVP | Brand Experience & Digital Innovation, Shinsegae
Magazine & Newspaper Design
Gail Bichler, Creative Director, The New York Times Magazine
Media
Joaquin Cubria, Chief Creative Officer & Global Partner, GUT
Music Videos
François Rousselet, Director, DIVISION
New Brand Identity
Johanna Roca, Creative Venture Partner, Accept & Proceed
Packaging Design
Neha Tulsian, Founder & Executive Creative Director, NH1Design
Pharma
Renata Maia, Chief Creative Officer, NA, Ogilvy Health
Photography
Shima Green, Director & Photographer, Craft WW, McCann Worldgroup
PR
Gail Heimann, Chief Executive Officer, The Weber Shandwick Collective
Press & Outdoor
Kalpesh Patankar, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett
Product Design
Kinya Tagawa, Chief Executive Officer, Takram
Production Design
Charlotte Marmion, Managing Director & Executive Producer, ICONOCLAST
Radio & Audio
Neo Mashigo, Chief Creative Officer, The Up&Up Group
Sound Design & Use of Music
Claudia Incio, Music Director, Agosto Music
Spatial Design
Thomas Hundt, Chief Executive Officer, Architect & Professor, jangled nerves
Sustained Impact
Paco Conde, Co-Founder & Executive Creative Director, Activista
Type Design & Lettering
Vaishnavi Murthy Yerkadithaya, Creative Type Director, Monotype
Typography
Samar Maakaroun, Partner & Creative Director, Pentagram
Visual Effects
Mike McGee, Chief Creative Officer, Framestore
Writing for Advertising
Avish Gordhan, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi
Writing for Design
Maia Swift, Writer, Namer & Thinker, Freelance
6 November 2024
— <p>D&AD Awards 2025 launch</p>D&AD Awards 2025 launch
4 December 2024
— <p>Super Early Bird (30% off)</p>Super Early Bird (30% off)
Pay for your entry by 4 December 23:59 GMT to receive 30% off. Once you have paid for your entries you have until 11 December to finalise your submission.
5 February 2025
— <p>Early Bird (20% off)</p>Early Bird (20% off)
Pay for your entry by 5 February 23:59 GMT to receive 20% off. Once you have paid for your entries you have until 12 February to finalise your submission.
12 March 2025
— <p>Final Deadline</p>Final Deadline
Pay for your entry by 12 March 23:59 GMT to enter the 2025 D&AD Awards. Once you have paid for your entries you have until 19 March to finalise your submission.
18–21 May 2025
— <p>D&AD Awards Judging</p>D&AD Awards Judging
20–21 May 2025
— <p>Shortlist Announcement</p>Shortlist Announcement
The shortlists for all categories will be revealed.
21–22 May 2025
— <p>D&AD Festival</p>D&AD Festival
Join us for keynote talks, Judges’ insight sessions, networking parties and an exhibition of winners, all celebrating the best in creativity at the Southbank Centre.
22 May 2025
— <p>D&AD Ceremony</p>D&AD Ceremony
Pencils to be presented in person at the Southbank Centre after the D&AD Festival.
September 2025
— <p>Rankings, Annual Report Launch</p>Rankings, Annual Report Launch
All the winning work published online in its entirety with insights and analysis. Free to access for the global creative community.
Sign up for the latest news, creative learning and inspiration from D&AD.