D&AD Global Awards winners announced

The famed D&AD Global Awards were held in London last night – with the cream of the global creative design and advertising industry present to celebrate the Black and Yellow pencils winners.

It was an evening where graphic design and print work dominated the Awards with both an illustration and a Web site scooping D&AD's famed Black Pencils for outstanding creativity. Judges bestowed what is billed the rarest prize in advertising and design to Nike+(www.nikeplus.com) by R/GA in the New Uses of Web sites category, and War Orphans in the Illustration: Press Advertising category by Kolle Rebbe Werbeagentur GmbH.

Fifty-nine D&AD Yellow Pencils were also awarded from the 151 nominated entries – with graphic design and viral work winning the most awards.

The D&AD Global Awards are widely recognized as the world's most important advertising and design awards. A Yellow Pencil is often cited as a career-defining award, while the rarer Black Pencils are only handed out to genre-defining examples of creativity.

Rise of graphic design

The 2007 Awards indicate that interactive and graphic design is on the rise, following years of cinematic and motion-graphics winners.

"This is the second time a Black Pencil has been awarded in the Web sites category, which saw a huge increase in entries this year," said D&AD president Tony Davidson – but he admitted that the quality of entries had been lacking.

"Overall, this is not a classic year, however what is interesting is that one of my favourite pieces was heavily technology-led. Nike+ challenges its category. It's a totally integrated consumer experience that redefines the running industry," Davidson added.

The second Black Pencil, War Orphans, is simple both in execution and concept – something that won over the judges.

"It's been a while since illustration picked up a Black Pencil, but the idea behind the campaign for War Orphans made the Awards jury's decision easy. Naïve family wall paintings they may be, but seeing where shells and bullets have shattered the images is a great and easily understood metaphor," said Davidson.

Winners included TBWA/Chiat Day, which won three Yellow Pencils in TV & Cinema Advertising for ads for Masterfoods' Skittles and Combos brands. Three Yellow Pencils were handed out in gaming, two of which went to Nintendo for Wii Sports and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?.

Flame, Inc won two Yellow Pencils for Fukutake House in Japan in Graphic Design: Signage & Information Graphics and Typography, while Devilfish led the way in Viral with two Yellow Pencils for Come Home to the Simpsons for Sky One.

Here and now

Poster advertising saw judges wowed by the political Not Here But Now by Walker for Amnesty International, a series of posters that appear to superimpose human rights abuses into city environments. McCann Erikson Singapore scored with its press ads Ace, Joker, Diamond for the National Council of Problem Gambling, which used illustration to depict the dangers of gambling in playing card format.

The Awards also saw the UK scoring the most gongs with 27 Yellow Pencils, followed by Germany with six. In total, 58 nations entered the Global Awards, a slight fall from the 61 nations entered in 2006. The D&AD says that entries were up for 2007 – with 25,000 entries compared to 24,500 in 2006.

The winning work can be seen at www.dandad.org/awards2007, and the D&AD Annual, which will be published in September 2007.