
Terms & Conditions
The nitty gritty details on what you can enter.
D&AD Impact celebrates creative ideas that are driving the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
It also helps creative ideas grow, by providing mentoring, training, visibility and funding to work that shows potential. Shortlisted in the Future Impact category? Apply for a development grant of up to £25,000 to develop your idea.
You can submit your work into one of three categories.
The Impact category is for work that’s been commercially released. This includes campaign communications, product and service designs, fundraising and business initiatives, community alliances and regeneration projects. You must demonstrate behavioural, environmental, social or policy change that’s happened as a direct result of the work. Win a coveted Wood, Graphite, White or Black Pencil; your name in the D&AD Annual; and four trees planted in your name as part of our partnership with Everclime.
The Future Impact category is for early-stage designs and initiatives, recognised for their potential to drive change. This includes prototypes, beta designs, MVPs, and initiatives that have yet to be launched, but can demonstrate proof of concept. Shortlisted Entrants will receive a place on the D&AD Impact Programme and the opportunity to apply for a grant from the D&AD Impact Fund, worth £25,000. Win a coveted Future Impact Pencil; your name in the D&AD Annual; and four trees planted in your name as part of our partnership with Everclime.
The Sustained Impact category seeks to recognise that has resulted in ongoing behavioural, environmental, social or policy change that are benefiting society. This includes campaign films, press adverts, posters, audio spots and brand activations created for real and virtual worlds. Win a coveted Wood, Graphite, White or Black Pencil; your name in the D&AD Annual; and four trees planted in your name as part of our partnership with Everclime.
The D&AD Impact Programme is a 12-month package of mentorship, training and support that’s designed to support project owners with the ideation, launch and early growth of their work. It’s available to anyone shortlisted in the Future Impact category.
A Future Impact cohort typically includes individuals, organisations and teams working on prototypes, MVPs, projects in testing or those that have recently launched. Through the programme we aim to to enable a cohort of creative thinkers, known as D&AD Impacters, to develop their projects within 12 months.
The D&AD Impact Programme has given us a shrewd understanding of business structures and how to make our idea pay... We could never have imagined at the beginning of the programme, all the different books and projects we are now working on. It has introduced us to amazing contacts within the industry who have been generous with their time and amazingly enthusiastic. Thank you so much D&AD!!!
— Georgina Potier & Jake Abrams, Get Better Books, 2021–2022 Cohort
Anyone shortlisted in the Future Impact category will receive place on the D&AD Impact Programme and the opportunity to apply for a development grant from the £25,000 D&AD Impact Fund. The Impact Programme includes:
—12-month package of mentorship, training and support that’s designed to support project owners with the ideation, launch and early growth of their work
—A space on a live D&AD Masterclasses of your choice
—Access to D&AD’s on-demand courses for a year
—The opportunity to ask the Impact Council for project support in the year following your win
—The opportunity to present your work live to the D&AD Impact Council during a summer showcase to demonstrate your progress
—Free entry into the D&AD Awards Impact category, valid for 3 years
Regardless of whether you would like to participate in the programme, your work will appear in the D&AD Annual, online and freely accessible to the global creative community. In 2024 this reached an audience of over 200,000 people, three quarters of which are outside the UK. Winners receive a Future Impact Pencil, a symbol of creative excellence, and a tree planted in recognition of their award.
The D&AD Impact Fund is a source of financial support for our awarded entrants. Anyone shortlisted in the Future Impact category is invited to apply for a development grant from the fund. Worth £25,000, applications will need to show how the money will be used toward the development of their awarded project. The funds must be spent within 12 months of being received.
D&AD does not claim any ownership of, or expect any financial return from, projects that receive funding.
The Fund will be allocated by the D&AD Impact Council at their discretion and based on the information provided in applications. In 2024, the full £25,000 of the D&AD Impact Fund was awarded to the project ViWipe:
Future Impact is for designs and initiatives that are on their way to being launched into the world. Prototypes, MVPs and work undergoing testing are all appropriate here. New product or service lines are also eligible under the same conditions.
We do not accept ideas without proof of concept and campaign communications are not be eligible.
Commercially released work will only be accepted in exceptional cases, where the work has not made a tangible impact yet and would benefit from the support of the D&AD Impact Programme. Work that has been commercially released and can demonstrate effectiveness should be entered into Impact.
For more details around the eligibility, please see page 9 in the Entry Kit.
Imagine your work being seen by a collection of senior figures from across the creative, investment and social impact space. The D&AD Impact Council consists of designers, brands, CMOs, entrepreneurs, investors and tech stars. All of them are working towards a fairer, more sustainable future in their chosen field. All of them are an invaluable resource for you and your business. They judge the entries, help to mentor Future Impacters, and most of all, they help our winners thrive.
Ben Akers
Co-CEO/Co-Founder
Talk Club
Deborah Alden
Founding Partner
da/rk
Joanna Catalano
HR Director
Uber
Paco Conde
Co-founder & ECD
Activista
Ben Cooper
Founder & Innovation Director
Brainstrust
Amy Dick
Chief Operating Officer
Cat Drew
Chief Design Officer
Design Council
ElsaMarie D'Silva
Founder
Red Dot Foundation
Kerstin Emhoff
Producer & Chief Executive Officer
Prettybird
Tom Evans
Creative Director / Coach / Entrepreneur
tomevans.consulting
Vince Frost
Founder, CEO & Executive Creative Director
Frost*collective
Rama Gheerawo
President
IIX Institute
Roshi Givechi
Design Strategist, Filmmaker & Facilitator
Tim Hawkey
Chief Creative Officer
AREA 23 and IPG Health Canada
Lars Hemming
Executive Chair
Culture3
Harsh Kapadia
Global Creative Chair, Viiv
Havas Health & YOU
Thomas Kolster
Founder
Goodvertising
Emily Kortlang
Chief Marketing Officer
Guayakí Yerba Mate
Remco Marinus
Executive Creative Director
Havas Lemz
Melissa Mbugua
East Africa Partnerships Lead
Radio Workshop
Sarah Moffat
Global Chief Creative Officer
Turner Duckworth
Jim Moriarty
Founder
Singlefin
Jane Murray
General Counsel
Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)
Priya Prakash
Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Design for Social Change (d4Sc)
Ali Rez
Chief Creative Officer
IMPACT BBDO
Tom Richards
Global Chief Creative Officer
21GRAMS
Tiffany Rolfe
Chair & Global Chief Creative Officer
R/GA
Sydney Scott Sam
Founder
Workspace Global
Billy Seabrook
Sr. Partner, Global Chief Design Officer
IBM Consulting
Ruchi Sharma
Founder & CCO
HumanSense
Ariana Stolarz
Global Chief Strategy Officer
Accenture Song
Kwame Taylor-Hayford
Co-Founder
Kin
Renato Winnig
Brand Director & CMO
Aramis Inc
While creativity for good is a personal and business imperative for many, our new course, made possible thanks to WeTransfer, will explore how to turn this awareness and intention into action.
Led by creative change-makers, all working towards a more sustainable future in their chosen fields, this course will build creative confidence to bring world-changing ideas to life, from concept to creation.
Accessible via a free on-demand course, available on D&AD's digital campus to complete at a time and pace to suit you, or via our exclusive cohort events.
The award that makes creative careers. The ultimate standard of excellence.
Sign up for the latest news, creative learning and inspiration from D&AD.