MDS AdSchool won the D&AD Pencil award at the New Blood Ceremony last night with their Penguin Shelfies idea.
Out of 3000 entries from nearly 60 countries throughout 2020, MDS team Hannah Grant and Conal Wilson came out on top.
“Achieved during an unprecedented time globally as well as for our industry, this is a win to be truly proud of,” D&AD announced.
AdSchool programme director, Kate Humphries says winning the D&AD New Blood Pencil is difficult due to notoriously exacting judging process.
“That is what makes it such a prestigious award.
“Our year doesn’t start until late February, three weeks before the deadline. So, for us it’s usually just a training-wheels exercise, but all our teams took advantage of the extended deadline this year to keep honing their entries during lockdown, and we’re delighted with the results because it shows what our students can do with a couple of extra weeks up their sleeves.”
Many in the industry assisted with feeding back on the students ideas during the online lockdown process, these include Michael Tam, Global Associate Design Director, IBM iX Hong Kong; Toby Talbot, Chief Creative Officer at C14torce Barcelona, Paul Catmur, CEO BC&F Dentsu, and Thom Dharlow, Creative Director Colenso BBDO.
