LONDON – D&AD has added two new pencils to its line-up of awards, replacing its In Book and Nomination levels with Wood and Graphite Pencils.
The Wood Pencil will be equivalent to bronze, and the Graphite Pencil will be equivalent to Silver.
“Each year we gather feedback from our members, entrants and our board and discuss what we can improve upon. And there’s been one issue that has troubled us for some time: the confusion caused by our awards hierarchy,” D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay explained on the D&AD website.
According to Lindsay, they made the change because the In Book and Nomination titles “are often undervalued or just plain misunderstood.”
“A place in the D&AD Annual is a fantastic accomplishment, it’s a book populated over the years with the greatest names in advertising and design. We’re all aware of the difficulty in winning a Yellow Pencil, and to be Nominated to receive one is a serious accolade too. However, even the word ‘Nomination’ itself was proving problematic. So we set out to rectify this, but without handing out more awards and without compromising the Yellow and Black Pencils,” he said.
Lindsay clarified that the new Awards levels will be effective from May 2015 at the Professional Awards Ceremony, and all historical awards will be referred to using the new system. Yellow, White, and Black Pencils will remain the same.
“We’d like to make it very clear that our Awards criteria remain the same and the standard remains as high; no more awards will be given than before, and as always, all decisions will be made by our juries,” Lindsay said.
