Colenso BBDO wins one D&AD Yellow Pencil for ‘Donation Glasses’; DraftFCB NZ wins one Yellow Pencil for ‘Call Girl’ campaign and String Theory wins one Yellow Pencil for ‘Metamorphosis’ work

Colenso BBDO New Zealand, DraftFCB New Zealand and String Theory, Auckland have all scooped a prized Yellow Pencil at the 2013 D&AD Awards in London tonight.

Colenso picked up a Yellow for its ‘Donation Glasses‘ campaign for Mars NZ and Pedigree Adoption Drive in the Direct category, DraftFCB won for Prime Television’s ‘Call Girl‘ campaign in the Radio Advertising category and String Theory Auckland scooped up a Yellow Pencil for its ‘Metamorphosis‘ campaign for Good Books and Oxfam New Zealand in the Film Advertising Crafts category.

There were a total of 51 Yellow Pencils awarded to the best of the world’s design, advertising and communications work at the 2013 D&AD Awards, the organisation’s 51st anniversary.

In total, 618 awards were given by juries across In-Book, Nominations and Yellow, Black & White Pencils at this year’s awards, with work from over 35 countries recognised.

This year, in recognition of the highest calibre of creative work, four Black Pencils were awarded to three British campaigns and one Aussie campaign including 4creative’s “Meet the Superhumans” for Channel 4 (TV & Cinema Communications); Heatherwick Studio’s “Olympic Cauldron” for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Spatial Design/Installations); GOV.UK’s website for Her Majesty’s Government (Writing for Websites & Digital Design) and McCann Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” for Metro Trains (Integrated & Earned Campaigns).

Incorporated into this year’s Awards for the first time, a coveted White Pencil was awarded to the United State’s Droga5 for their “Help! I want to Save a Life” campaign for Help Remedies.

McCann Melbourne’s ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ campaign for Metro Trains received Yellow Pencils across five categories: Art Direction, Earned Media Campaigns, Digital Advertising, TV & Cinema Advertising and Writing for Film Advertising.

The UK’s 4creative was another big winner earning four Yellow Pencils for its “Meet the Superhumans” campaign, across Editing for Film Advertising, TV & Cinema Communications, Direction for Film Advertising and Use of Music for Film Advertising categories as well as a Black Pencil.

Other campaigns taking multiple awards were R/GA’s “Nike+ FuelBand” (US), taking three Yellow Pencils, whilst Leica Store São Paulo’s “Soul” (Brazil) and 20th Century Fox’s “Prometheus Viral ‘David'” (UK) each won two Yellow Pencils.

Film Advertising Crafts was the category awarded the greatest number of Yellow Pencils, with the jury recognising 12 entrants with Yellow Pencils.

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.

Says Tim Lindsay, CEO of D&AD: “Our fifty-first Awards was another outstanding year for global creativity, with thousands of pieces of work recognised by the juries. So, a big thank you to our almost 200 judges who have once again helped to make this the awards ‘for creatives, judged by creatives’.

“The quality of entries this year has been astounding. The craft skills of making great pieces of graphic design, TV & cinema, direct, film and illustration are as strong as ever. However it’s also great to see the written word being employed in such a diverse and multifaceted way. It demonstrates a big shift in understanding of what words can bring to design.

“The integrity and transparency of the judging process is legendary and is what sets D&AD apart from our awards so it’s just incredible to see the pinnacle of creative excellence coming through and continuing to raise the bar each year.”

The UK led a strong showing, scooping up 202 awards overall, including three Black Pencils and 12 Yellow Pencils. Work from the US also did well, with entries gaining 113 awards in total (of which 13 were Yellow Pencils).

Entries from around the world were given awards at this year’s D&AD. Australia had a particularly strong year, achieving 50 awards overall, including a coveted Black Pencil and seven 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.

Meanwhile, work from Asia was also well recognised, 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 recognised by the juries, including four Yellow Pencils, a record 37% increase in awards from 2012.

Says Lindsay: “The D&AD Awards have become a truly international awards, with more work entered than ever from around the world.

“This has undoubtedly been a spectacular year for Australian creative work. 57 campaigns were recognised by the juries, with McCann Erickson Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” for Metro Trains sweeping the board across various categories.

“It’s also particularly encouraging to see more Asian work coming to the fore. Japan continues to lead the charge but we also saw a doubling in the number of entries from China this year which is testament to the country’s thriving creative scene.

“The bar has been set immeasurably high and we hope creative professionals from around the world will rise to the challenge next year to achieve the highest possible accolade in creative excellence; it’s going to be very tough to beat.”

View the winners by country: D&AD Results by Country.xls