London – AMV BBDO from London has secured 21 pencils, the most on the final day of judging of the 53rd D&AD awards Thursday.
A total of 848 Pencils have been awarded, but the winners will have to wait until the award ceremony at Battersea Evolution on May 21 to find out what’s the actual color of the pencils they won — Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White or Black.
Completing the top 10 ranking agencies by pencils won are R/GA (18 Pencils), BBDO New York (13 Pencils), adam&eveDDB and Grey London (11 Pencils each for joint 4th), Leo Burnett Canada Toronto – 11 Pencils, Droga5, Kolle Rebbe and Wieden+Kennedy London (9 Pencils each for joint 7th) and AlmapBBDO and Leo Burnett London with 8 Pencils each to tie in 10th place.
The United Kingdom secured the most number of pencils this year with 240, followed by the United states with 145 Pencils and Brazil, Germany & Japan with 44 Pencils at joint 3rd place.
Wood and Graphite are two new additions to the D&AD awards as part of an Awards-wide refresh this year to have better clarity and coherence to the existing levels.
It replaces the In Book and Nomination awards,respectively, and stands for bronze and silver levels respectively in D&AD’s awards hierarchy, with the yellow pencil representing gold.
White pencils are awarded to Yellow Pencil-worthy work that demonstrates the power to affect real and positive change in the world through creative thinking.
The Black Pencil is reserved for ground-breaking work. Some years no Black Pencils are awarded: the record currently stands at just six.
