The ad industry’s most coveted Pencils.
The 64th D&AD Awards Ceremony, held on May 20, 2026, in London, celebrated the year’s most powerful and purposeful creative work. With entries from a record-breaking 89 countries and over 50,000 pieces of work, this edition reinforced D&AD’s global relevance and influence. This year, only 2 White Pencils and 2 Future Impact Pencils were awarded, while the Black Pencils winners (the highest honor in the industry!) will be announced in September.
In total, 573 Pencils were awarded across 46 categories. This year’s winners reflected a growing appetite for bold, boundary-pushing creativity, with standout work spanning traditional craft, technology and cultural influence. As the industry evolves, the benchmark for excellence continues to rise: the work awarded in 2026 didn’t just demonstrate exceptional execution, it moved creative standards forward on a global scale.
| BRAND | CREATIVE | AGENCY | |
| WHITE PENCIL | |||
| Impact White Pencil | AXA | Three Words | Publicis Conseil, Paris |
| Sustained Impact White Pencil | AnNahar | Active Journalism | Impact BBDO, Dubai |
| FUTURE IMPACT | |||
| Future Impact Pencil | Hyro | Natural Additive | D. Huynh (…), UK |
| Future Impact Pencil | Other Matter | OM Signage Film | Other Matter, Australia |
| BLACK PENCIL | |||
| To be announced in Sept. 2026 | . | . | . |
Commenting on this year’s winners, Lisa Smith, D&AD President and Uncommon Creative Studio’s Global Chief Design Officer, said: “What stood out most was the sheer creative bravery and excellence on display. Across disciplines we saw teams pushing into genuinely new territory, from storytelling and traditional craft to emerging technologies and new forms of expression. Creativity is very much alive and the work that won did so because it moved the standard of creative excellence forward.”
The 573 Pencils awarded for the D&AD Awards 2026 by level:
- White (Grand Prix): 2 Pencils awarded.
- Future Impact: 2 Pencils awarded.
- Yellow (Gold): 52 Pencils awarded.
- Graphite (Silver): 149 Pencils awarded.
- Wood (Bronze): 368 Pencils awarded.
- Shortlisted: 557 pieces of work.
The 573 Pencils awarded for the D&AD Awards 2026 by main category track:
The Culture discipline saw the strongest entry growth of any discipline in 2026, with entries up 49% year on year. Three categories, Sport Entertainment (Culture), Cultural Influence (Culture) and Brand Transformation (Brand), made their D&AD Awards debut this year, awarding 10, 8 and 9 Pencils respectively.
- Advertising: 63 Pencil Winners.
- Brand: 32 Pencil Winners.
- Craft: 153 Pencil Winners.
- Culture: 55 Pencil Winners.
- Design: 129 Pencil Winners.
- Engagement & Experience: 102 Pencil Winners.
- Health: 25 Pencil Winners.
- Impact: 14 Pencil Winners.
The 2 White Pencils Winners of the D&AD 2026
-
Sustained Impact White Pencil: AnNahar – “Active Journalism”, by Impact BBDO Beirut and Dubai.
The Sustained Impact White Pencil awarded to the AnNahar and Impact BBDO recognised a powerful body of “active journalism” that transformed the Lebanese newspaper into a platform for civic action, with campaigns such as The New President, Newspapers Inside the Newspaper, and the Elections Edition, all using creativity to drive political engagement and social accountability in Lebanon.
-
Impact White Pencil: AXA – “Three Words”, by Publicis Conseil, Paris.
AXA and Publicis Conseil earned an Impact White Pencil for “Three Words”, a campaign that highlighted how a simple change in insurance wording could offer stronger protection and support for women facing domestic violence.
The 2 Future Impact Pencils Winners of the D&AD 2026
-
Future Impact Pencil: Other Matter – “OM Signage Film”, by Other Matter, Melbourne.
Other Matter received a Future Impact Pencil for “OM Signage Film”, an innovative algae-based alternative to PVC vinyl that reimagines temporary signage through renewable, non-petrochemical materials designed to reduce environmental harm across retail, exhibitions, and events.
-
Future Impact Pencil: Hyro – “Hyro”, by Duy Huynh, Will Harris, Zayna Ahmed, London.
Hyro was recognised with a Future Impact Pencil for its natural soil additive, designed to restore soil health, strengthen climate resilience in agriculture, and improve the nutritional quality of food by addressing the long-term environmental damage caused by conventional farming. More info here.
The 52 Yellow (Gold) Pencils Winners of the D&AD 2026
Here are the case studies for the only eight campaigns awarded multiple Yellow Pencils this year, followed below by the full list of these highly coveted “Gold” awards.
| # OF GOLD PENCILS | CLIENT | CAMPAIGN | CATEGORY | AGENCY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Vaseline | Vaseline Verified | Commerce + Digital Marketing + Experiential + Media | Ogilvy Singapore |
| 3 | Björk, Rosalía, Yves Tumor | Berghain | Music Videos (x3) | CANADA Barcelona |
| 3 | Coinbase | Your Way Out | Art Direction + Production Design + Visual Effects | Isle of Any |
| 3 | DECIEM | The Periodic Fable | Art Direction + Health & Wellbeing + Press & Outdoor | Uncommon Creative Studio London |
| 2 | Anthropic | A Time and a Place | Film (x2) | Mother London |
| 2 | AXA | Three Words | Health & Wellbeing + PR | Publicis Conseil |
| 2 | Caritas Sweden | Vehicle of Hope | PR (x2) | Differ |
| 2 | L’Oréal France | The Final Copy of Ilon Specht | Entertainment + Film | McCann Paris |
| 1 | LVMH | 1837 Tiffany Blue Conservation | Luxury | L&C NYC |
| 1 | Second Nurture | 18 Months | Production Design | Klick Health Toronto |
| 1 | Apple United States | A Critter Carol | Entertainment | TBWA\Media Arts Lab Los Angeles |
| 1 | The New York Times | An Agoraphobe Goes to the Grocery Store | Magazine & Newspaper Design | The New York Times |
| 1 | Uber | Build Your Own Super Bowl Commercial | Digital Marketing | Special US |
| 1 | Buffalo Zine | Buffalo Zine No. 21 | Magazine & Newspaper Design | Buffalo Zine |
| 1 | Chicago Hearing Society, Rakish Entertainment | Caption with Intention | Entertainment | Omnicom |
| 1 | Supercell | Die Ballons! | Animation | Uncommon Creative Studio Stockholm |
| 1 | Electronic Arts | Drop In | Gaming & Virtual Worlds | Uncommon Creative Studio London |
| 1 | Evil Ray | Evil Ray | New Brand Identity | Pembleton, Seachange |
| 1 | Columbia Sportswear | Expedition Impossible | Direct | adam&eve\TBWA London |
| 1 | adidas | Fowler’s Sports | Sports Entertainment | Homeground |
| 1 | Heineken México | Gulf of Mexico (Bar) | Press & Outdoor | LePub Mexico |
| 1 | Life360 | I Think Of You Dying | Film | Alto New York |
| 1 | INQUE Publishing | INQUE | Magazine & Newspaper Design | Pentagram New York |
| 1 | Apple United States | I’m Not Remarkable | Casting | Apple United States |
| 1 | Mondelēz International | Made to Be Enjoyed, Not Endured | Writing for Advertising | VCCP London |
| 1 | The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) | Not A Target | Spatial Design | TBWA\RAAD |
| 1 | HORNBACH Bornheim | No Project Without Drama | Editing | HeimatTBWA\ Berlin |
| 1 | OpenAI | OpenAI DevDay 2025 | Brand Identity Refresh | Studio Dumbar/DEPT |
| 1 | Penguin Random House | Penguin Inclusive Sans | Type Design & Lettering | Olivia King, Penguin Random House |
| 1 | Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen | Pope Yes | Cultural Influence | GUT Miami |
| 1 | Heineken | Pub Succession | Direct | LePub Milan |
| 1 | Sigma | Sigma | Brand Identity Refresh | Stockholm Design Lab |
| 1 | SickKids Foundation | The Count | Casting | FCB Canada |
| 1 | VanMoof | The Sound of VanMoof | Digital Experience Design | VanMoof |
| 1 | The New York Times | The New York Times for Kids | Magazine & Newspaper Design | The New York Times |
| 1 | BBC | Trails Will Blaze | Animation | BBC Creative, NOMINT |
| 1 | Google, Rimas Entertainment, Spotify | Tracking Bad Bunny | Digital Marketing | DDB Latina Puerto Rico |
| 1 | Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing | To See in White | Graphic Design | Ming He, Qing Zhao, Tao Zhu |
David Patton, D&AD CEO, said: “64 years in and the D&AD Awards have never felt more global or more vital. The breadth of countries entering and the quality of work they’re producing tells you everything about where commercial creativity is headed. Entries were received from 89 countries this year, up from 86 in 2025 and the highest ever in D&AD Awards’ history. Significant growth in submissions from the UAE, India, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia signals that world-class creative ambition is no longer concentrated in a handful of markets, D&AD’s standard for excellence is being pursued and met across every continent. Singapore is perhaps the best example of that shift. Eleven Pencils, five of them Yellow, an achievement that signals where global creativity is heading.”
