The D&AD 2023 shortlists are in

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LONDON, UK — D&AD has announced the shortlist for this year’s D&AD Awards across all categories, ahead of the Pencil winners being revealed in two ceremonies taking place at the BFI Southbank, London, on May 24 and 25.

Each year, the D&AD Awards set the benchmark for creative excellence, with the D&AD Pencil recognized globally as the ultimate creative accolade entered and judged by the best from around the world. Now in its 61st consecutive year, the D&AD Awards have grown to incorporate more than 40 categories, judged by nearly 400 of the world’s leading creatives from across the full spectrum of design, advertising, craft, production, and impact disciplines.

This year, D&AD challenged the industry to “MAKE. CHANGE.” Celebrating creative excellence today, D&AD strives to uncover insights and share tools to empower. It looks at what’s next, debating opportunities and challenges arising from evolving and emerging technologies, pushing the industry forward, standing up for what’s right, and making space for new voices to thrive.

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Pencil-winning work leaves an important and lasting legacy, informing the future of commercial creativity globally. Crucially, as a charity, entries enable D&AD to fund educational programs such as D&AD Shift with Google, a free, industry-led night school for self-taught creatives from under-represented backgrounds.

Every year, the D&AD Awards categories evolve to best represent the creative and cultural landscape within which work is being produced. The revised program addresses fundamental themes currently permeating the creative industries and ensures that the Awards remain the most relevant benchmark for creative excellence in design and advertising.

The 2023 Awards saw the following category developments:

Gaming category became Gaming & Virtual Worlds with the addition of three new subcategories: Use of Avatars, Use of Blockchain, and Brand Experience
Use of XR subcategories more inclusive of work created for Web3 and the metaverse; Use of XR added to Direct and Media for the first time; as well as Digital, Commerce, Digital Design, Animation, Typography, and Visual Effects
Photography evolved to include Personal Style to enable portfolios to be judged
Fashion Film added to six categories: Film, Art Direction, Cinematography, Direction, Editing, and Production Design
Product and Packaging Design added two new subcategories: Packaging Design / Plastic Free, for packaging that has been designed or redesigned to eliminate the use of plastic; and Impact / Climate Solution, for work that’s taking action to combat the impact of climate change by driving the success of Sustainable Development Goals
Branding category restructured so that work is grouped according to the size of the client
Type Design renamed Type Design & Lettering, with subcategories arranged by font family instead of genre and dedicated subcategories for Lettering, Symbols, and Variable Fonts
Book Design restructured with new subcategories including Young Adults, Photographic Books, Exhibition Books, Promotional Books, Anthologies, and Revised Editions
Craft subcategories reintroduced to music videos, including Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, and Visual Effects

The top-ranking countries by number of Shortlisted Entries are:
1. United States: 233
2. United Kingdom: 186
3. France: 67
4. Australia: 38
5. Canada: 38
6. United States, United Kingdom: 36
7. China: 28
8. India: 27
9. Germany: 24
10. Japan: 24

The top five ranking entrant companies by number of Shortlisted Entries are:
1. Division: 22
2. adam&eveDDB: 20
3. Marcel: 18
4. Ogilvy UK: 16
5. FCB New York: 15

The total number of Entries shortlisted in each category are:
Animation: 21
Art Direction: 20
Book Design: 20
Branding: 89
Casting: 23
Cinematography: 13
Commerce: 33
Creative Transformation: 17
Digital: 65
Digital Design: 30
Direct: 67
Direction: 61
Editing: 15
Entertainment: 22
Experiential: 58
Film: 38
Future Impact: 20
Gaming & Virtual Worlds: 13
Graphic Design: 59
Illustration: 20
Impact: 44
Integrated: 15
Magazine & Newspaper Design: 37
Media: 65
Music Videos: 37
Packaging Design: 22
Photography: 12
PR: 65
Press & Outdoor: 35
Product Design: 23
Production Design: 15
Radio & Audio: 20
Side Hustle: 6
Sound Design & Use of Music: 36
Spatial Design: 31
Type Design & Lettering: 22
Typography: 17
Visual Effects: 15
Writing for Advertising: 26
Writing for Design: 14

2023 submissions have seen a substantial increase in entries from nearly all regions. Africa has seen the most significant change with an uplift of 103.8%, followed by Latin America 33.07%, Middle East and India, 27.73%, Japan and Singapore 18.94%, and US and Canada 6.93%. In addition, there was a record number of total entries for this year’s Awards with a 4.95% overall increase.

Donal Keenan, Awards Director at D&AD, commented, “It was amazing to be back in person for the first time since 2019. It’s been several long days and nights of rigorous debates and discussions, but the judges loved participating and it was great fun to facilitate. Huge thanks to the juries who
brought their expertise. They were tough but fair and the results are now in – we’re thrilled to
announce the shortlist.”

CEO Jo Jackson said, “We’re making work in a world that’s creating new intelligence, embracing renewables, facing extinction, confronting its biases, entrenching inequality, exploring further, living longer and still fighting a pandemic. It’s clear that we can’t just make things that are pretty. We can’t make plastic junk. We can’t waste time making things up that aren’t even real. We can’t ignore how technology is shaping us. We can’t play off our privilege, take comfort in convention, or turn a blind eye. But our creativity can make a real difference in response to these challenges.”