LONDON, UK – This year marks a milestone for Filipino representation on the global creative stage. Six Filipino creatives have broken through the noise, earning recognition at one of the most prestigious platforms for emerging talent, the D&AD New Blood Awards.
Each year, thousands of aspiring creatives from around the world respond to real briefs from major brands like HSBC, Xbox, Depop, Monotype, and more. Out of these entries, only a select few are awarded a New Blood Pencil. To win a New Blood Pencil is to be seen, not just as promising, but as exceptional. It’s a symbol of creative excellence that some professionals spend their entire careers chasing. Check out the award winning work here:
Yellow Pencil: Patrcia Tuazon for War Child
“Inspired by the lyrics ‘I want your death, you want my life,’ I created a design cutting up squares of digitally scanned photography featuring both fresh, vibrant flowers and decayed, lifeless ones to symbolise the dichotomy in the song. The composition mirrors life as a puzzle, some pieces fit together seamlessly, forming something whole, while others remain warped or isolated. Some find harmony in connections, others struggle to align, ultimately, tearing bonds apart. As Robert Smith states, ‘there’s always war going on,’ reminding us that even if we don’t all fit into each other’s grids, we will inevitably create conflict.”
Wood Pencil: Shanie Janine, Hance Rosales and Nicole Foca for Christopher Ward
Problem: 58% of Gen Z in the UK feel anxious frequently or all the time — a significant rise compared to Gen X and baby boomers. Anxiety thrives in the moments we’re left waiting.Insight: Christopher Ward’s logo plays with negative space. But what’s the negative space in our time? Waiting. Restless tapping and anxious fidgeting. Instead of seeing waiting as empty, why not embrace the pause?
Strategy: “Wait: A Time to Be Alive” — a campaign that transforms nervous energy into play. When we’re anxious, we tap our fingers, we fidget. What if we brought life to it?
We’re shifting anxiety into excitement by offering a brand experience, along with the ads, with interactive escape rooms, a mobile game, and socials.’It’s a reminder that while it’s all in our hands, it’s in the imagination too.
Wood Pencil: Eugene Corpuz. Charisse Saculingan and Karin Huitfeldt for HSBC
“Banking is like a relationship, you’re looking for a life long, partner not a situationship. HSBC wants to show international students they can ‘Go the Distance,’ not just as a globally local bank, but as a dependable partner through every stage of life. Committed, consistent, and in it for the long haul, unlike digital banks that never make it past the talking phase.”
Graphite Pencil: Rohan Carlo Sagupong and Ahalya Bahugana for XBOX
“Around the world, gamers share one struggle: finding time to play. Life is packed with responsibilities and gaming often takes a backseat. But what if you could fit it into the time you already have? Like all those moments in the day when you’re just waiting or existing? For example, when your clothes spin in the washer or when the hottest new restaurant comes with a two-block-long line. No matter where or who you are, these little moments exist. And they’re all a chance to jump into level 1.”
Wood Pencil: Shania Janine and Joseph Ariyibi for Wise
Problem: Traditional money transfer systems eat away at your money and time. How? Switching currencies often take three to five business days and there’s hidden exchange rates.
Insight: Wise allows people to send money seamlessly between two worlds (countries) at the lightning speed of under 20 seconds. What is even faster than this transfer and instantly connects us to another country? Food. It is transportive, we travel through our senses, to new places.
Solution: Stop being in between, belong everywhere. Be a local everywhere. We’re plucking the hottest, iconic local spots from across the globe, copied and pasted into your neighborhood. Transporting their essence (and their literal building) right into your world. The only condition? Pay in their local currency.
We asked some of the winners to reflect on their creative journey, what this moment means to them, and what advice they’d pass on to the next generation of Filipino creatives. Here are some words from the winners:
Shania Janine, creative strategy executive at Unrest and Notion ambassador
What is your DNA? I have my dad’s nose and brown eyes, my mum’s lips, but I also have my dad’s discipline, my mum’s multitasking hustle, my older brother’s love for “don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.” So naturally, I had to show this DNA. Joining Brixton Finishing School was a testament to how the industry is empowering, but still lacks diversity. It’s empowering to see fellow Filipinos win across the industry, I’m always inspired by how we choose to intertwine communication with culture and individual life experiences.
D&AD taught me to make opportunities, option-less. That is why I picked two briefs to complete outside of university modules. Whether it meant failing and succeeding, I remembered there was no ‘losing’ in this process, when I had a chance to collaborate, to rethink, and most importantly have fun.
A flashback for you: I had just finished submitting my unit 9 and had a 2 week break before starting my final project at university.
My day to day completing both briefs was:
Morning: Class Time
Afternoon: Christopher Ward around the campus (with Nika and Hance)
Evenings: Uncommon Creative Studio and Wise (with Joseph) with an occasional celebratory kebab in the end.
Throughout this daily routine for 2 months, the initial stress became an adventure of excitement. My piece of advice that I tell myself is to be “extra” unapologetically, eliminating any ideas of “losing” and “wasting time,” as that secretly will manifest itself. It’s through being ‘extra’ and appreciating you’re going the extra mile that you become more confident and trusting in your ideas. Ultimately, it’s the trust in your relationship with creativity that makes stress into excitement. Wasting time to filling time. Losing to winning.
Over these two months, what began as stress transformed into an exciting adventure. My advice to myself is simple: Be unapologetically “extra.” Eliminate thoughts of “losing” or “wasting time” as these ideas tend to manifest themselves. By embracing your extra efforts and appreciating the additional mile you’re going, you naturally build confidence and trust in your ideas. Ultimately, creativity is your partner, your parent, your bestest friend. It’s this trust in your relationship with creativity that transforms stress into excitement. Transforms wasted time into filled time. Transforms losing into winning (pencil or not).
Rohan Carlo Sugapong, AI developer and marketing automation associate at Scrubbed:
While awards are incredible, what matters more is loving the process. Having fun with the idea. Creating something you’re proud to put in your book, regardless of the outcome. The truth? The more I chased awards, the less joy I found. Creativity is amorphous. It’s judged by taste as much as craft. Even with strategic fine-tuning, the result is never fully in your control. Obsessing over winning kills the magic. But loving the work? That’s where great ideas live. If I could pass on anything to future Filipino Pencil hunters, it would be these things:
Creativity has no borders. As a Filipino creative, I know what it’s like to feel limited — by tools, by tech, by exposure, even by cultural norms and politics. It can feel like we’re behind. But your greatest infrastructure is your imagination. Your ideas are valid. Your instincts matter. Your mind has no borders. Your creativity doesn’t either. Don’t let external limits define what you can dream up. Our limits bring out our strengths. Filipinos make magic with constraints. That’s our power. So imagine what we can do when we create without them.
Be kind. I know this might feel out of place in an award testimonial, but it’s the most important thing I’ll say. Because while talent makes great work, kindness makes great partnerships. As the great poet Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” Talent makes gold out of opportunity. But kindness opens the door to it.
