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 5 February to receive 20% 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.
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.
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.
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 pay by 5 February to save 20%. 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, ANORAK/Love Song
Editing
Fouad Gaber, Film Editor, Cabin Edit
Entertainment
Debbi Vandeven, Global Chief Creative Officer, VML
Experiential: Activation & Participation
Dennis May, Chief Creative Officer DACH, Publicis Groupe
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/Something Great
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.
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