The UAE has won 15 pencils at this year’s D&AD Awards in London.
Amongst the winners are Leo Burnett Dubai, Impact BBDO, DDB, Saatchi & Saatchi and Y&R Dubai, although they will have to wait until the awards ceremony on 21 May to find out what type of pencil they have won.
It is the highest number of pencils ever won by the region and follows this year’s replacement of the ‘in book’ and ‘nomination’ levels with a wood pencil (equivalent to bronze) and a graphite pencil (equivalent to silver). Previously, the only pencils available were yellow, white and black.
Leo Burnett Dubai’s ‘du Tuesday’ work, which won a number of golds at this year’s Dubai Lynx and was directed by Ali Ali, has won seven pencils, while Impact BBDO’s ‘Your destiny’ campaign for Commercial Insurance has walked off with three. Y&R Dubai’s ‘Little labels of big consequences’ (pictured) for Global Export has won two, whilst Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai’s ‘Marvellous Creations’ for Mondelez International, DDB’s ‘Preserving pride’ for Henkel, and JWT Dubai’s ‘Boecker DM’ for Boecker Public Health have all won one apiece.
More than 22,000 pieces of work from 85 countries were judged by 197 of the world’s top creatives, with a total of 848 pencils awarded.
The UAE’s haul places it 14th amongst the overall winners by country, while the top three agencies by pencils won were AMV BBDO with 21, R/GA with 18, and BBDO New York with 13.
D&AD’s CEO, Tim Lindsay, said: “A pencil is the toughest creative award on Earth to win, and we’re proud of the rigour the judges apply to their decisions. After all, their names end up in The Book along with the winners.
“I’m pleased that the white pencil has had a record number of entries this year. Creative people have the resources at their disposal to engender major changes to the way we behave – and applied to good causes there can be no better way to use our industry’s talents.”