Japan leads Asian performances at D&AD Awards

D&AD has released the full list of winners and in-book acceptances. There were a total of 66 Yellow Pencils awarded to the best of the world’s design, advertising and communications work at the 2012 Awards, the organisation’s fiftieth anniversary.

In total, 636 entries from over 35 countries were recognised with awards across In-Book, Nominations and Yellow Pencils at this year’s awards.

Entries from around the world were given awards at this year’s D&AD. Work from the United Kingdom had a strong show at this year’s event, with UK entries scooping 198 awards in total (of which 21 were Yellow Pencils). Work from the United States also did well, as entries gained 103 awards in total (of which 11 Yellow Pencils).

However, European nations performed well, with France leading the way with 30 awards overall, of which 7 were Yellow Pencils. Germany also had a strong year with 34 awards overall (although none of the entries were felt to have earned the top award). The Netherlands also performed strongly, with 9 awarded pieces of work, 22 of which gained Yellow Pencils.

The best performing Asian country was Japan with 32 awards overall (4 Yellow Pencils) and China (with 4 Yellow Pencils amongst 11 recognised pieces of work) leading a strong year for Asian entries.

Entries from Australia (31 awards of which 3 were given Yellow Pencils), South Africa (29 awards of which 4 gained Yellow Pencils), Brazil (26 awards, of which 2 gained Yellow Pencils) and New Zealand (9 awards and 1 Yellow Pencil) also did well at this year’s awards.

Here are the results by country:  D&AD Awards by Country.pdf

Bob Gill, who was one of those who founded D&AD fifty years ago said of the 2012 awards, “I started D&AD with my partners, Colin Forbes and Alan Fletcher, along with other designers in London in the 1960s because we felt we needed a showcase. At that time the only other organisation that even presumed to show work was the Society of Industrial Designers and they were just so old fashioned they seemed like they were from a different generation. So we started D&AD for designers and advertisers to show their work and discuss the issues affecting them. Today, I think we’ve achieved that aim and my successors have created and are the guardians of one of the greatest design shows in the world.”

Sir John Hegarty, who chaired the Art Direction Jury at this year’s awards said, “Change has been driven by technology and its impact on creativity. But I think the danger in that is that the power of advertising is the power to reduce. I think that there is a tendency to use the technology because it’s there, rather than because it’s necessary. Whereas I believe that the only space worth buying is the space between somebody’s ears – and I have been looking for ideas that achieve that in the simplest way possible.”

David Droga, who chaired the Integrated and Earned Campaigns Jury at this year’s awards added: “Ninety percent of what we do in advertising is rubbish. There’s ten percent that is amazing and enriching and game-changing. My role at D&AD as a judge and a foreman has been to find the work that falls into the latter camp.  I firmly believe that there is nothing in the world that can’t be made better by creativity or strategy. I think that the work that I have seen at D&AD does, in many ways, achieve against that end.”