
Entry Kit
Download the Entry Kit to prepare your entries.
D&AD Impact celebrates creative ideas that are making a real and positive difference to the world. It also helps creative ideas grow, by providing mentoring, training, visibility and funding to work that shows potential.
Work must be driving progress toward the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
This year's winners have been announced.
You can submit your work into one of two categories.
The Impact category is for work that’s been commercially released, including designs, initiatives and social good campaigns. The Entrant must demonstrate behavioural, environmental, social or policy change that’s happened as a direct result of the work. Our coveted Wood, Graphite, White and Black Pencils are awarded here.
The Future Impact category is for early-stage designs and initiatives, recognised for their potential to drive change. Shortlisted Entrants will receive a place on the D&AD Impact Programme, providing access to mentoring, training, visibility and peer support. They will also have the right to apply for a grant from the D&AD Impact Fund, worth £25,000.
The D&AD Impact Programme is a 12-month package of mentorship, training and visibility that supports 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 deliver tangible impact within 12 months.
It was such an honour to win the award and to be part of a cohort of other people that are going through similar challenges. — Lucy Hughes, MarinaTex, 2020 Cohort
Shortlisted Entrants will receive a place on the D&AD Impact Programme and the right to apply for a development grant from the D&AD Impact Fund. The Impact Programme includes:
—A place on the D&AD Impact Accelerator, with 20 hrs of expert advice
—10 hours of mentoring from the D&AD Impact Council
—Access to D&AD’s online courses for a year, including D&AD Start-Up School
—The opportunity to present their work live to the D&AD Impact Council
—Access to a creative, peer-driven network
—Free entry into the D&AD Awards Impact category, valid for 3 years
Regardless of whether shortlisted entrants would like to participate in the programme, all awarded work will appear in the D&AD Annual, online and freely accessible to the global creative community. In 2021 this reached an audience of over 75,000 people. Winners will receive a Future Impact Pencil, a symbol of creative excellence, and will receive a tree planted in recognition of their award. Find out more about this initiative here.
The D&AD Impact Accelerator is a tailor-made bootcamp for people shortlisted in the Future Impact category. It's a unique blend of expert advice, practical workshops, mentoring, talks and peer-to-peer support; all designed to help your idea flourish and your business thrive.
Run by the D&AD Foundation team, trainers and members of the D&AD Impact Council, the accelerator includes approximately 20 hours of expert learning, delivered online and from the comfort of your home.
When submitting your work you will be asked whether you would like to attend, what you hope to gain from participating, and what you can offer your peers.
We are excited to reintroduce the D&AD Impact Fund - a source of financial support for our awarded entrants.
Anyone shortlisted in the Future Impact category will be invited to apply for all or part of the fund. Worth £25,000, applications will need to show how the money will be used toward the development of their awarded project. The Fund will be allocated by the D&AD Impact Council at their discretion and based on the information provided in the application.
Previous recipients of the fund include theOtherDada for their unique afforestation project, Beirut's RiverLESS Forest; MORE MOMS for a market research study to keep mothers in advertising; and Decoding Medicine, to develop a prototype that will create a universal language for medicines in India.
Future Impact is not for social good campaigns; it’s 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 concepts; you must provide proof of concept within your submission.
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.
Rolyn Lomocso, Pinyapel, Future Impact cohort 2019-2020
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, mentor Future Impacters and take part in the Impact Accelerator. And most of all, they help our winners thrive.
Ben Akers
Founder
Made with +
Deborah Alden
Designer & Strategist
Transformation & Innovation
Ghida Anani
Founder & Director
ABAAD - Resource Centre for Gender Equality
Drew Burdon
Partner
The Brandtech Group
Alejandro Canciobello
SVP & Creative Director
Moon Rabbit
Joanna Catalano
CEO
IProspect APAC
Paco Conde
CCO and Co Founder
Activista
Ben Cooper
Founder
Tricky Jigsaw
Kate Davies
Director of Brand
The Guardian
Amy Dick
Head of Impact
Anyone
Shana Dressler
CEO
Turquoise Consulting
Cat Drew
Chief Design Officer
Design Council
ElsaMarie DSilva
Founder
Red Dot Foundation
Claudia Romo Edelman
Special Advisor
We Are All Human
Kerstin Emhoff
Producer & Chief Executive Officer
Prettybird
Tom Evans
Co-Founder
Behaviour
Aline Santos Farhat
EVP Global Marketing & Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion
Unilever
Vince Frost
ECD/CEO
Frost* Collective
Jose Gorbea
WW Head Brands, Agencies & Sustainable Innovation
Hewlett Packard Espanola
Rama Gheerawo
Director
Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Roshi Givechi
Consultant
Design Strategist & Storyteller
Tim Hawkey
CCO
Area 23
Lars Hemming
Partner
VICE Media
Harsh Kapadia
Executive Creative Director
VML
Daianna Karaian
Co-Founder
Today Do This
Thomas Kolster
Founder
Goodvertising
Emily Kortlang
Brand Director, EMEA
Beats by Dre (Apple)
Danielle Krettek
Founder
Google Empathy Lab
Damilola Marcus
Art Director
Dá Design Studio
Remco Marinus
Creative Director and Partner
Havas Lemz
Melissa Mbugua
Co-Director
Africa Podfest
Marsha Meredith
Creative Director
Aesop
Sarah Moffat
Executive Creative Director
Turner Duckworth
Jim Moriarty
Director of Brand Citizenship
72andSunny
Jane Murray
Founder & CEO
Peacebeam
Priya Prakash
Founder & CEO
Design for Social Change
Ali Rez
Regional Executive Creative Director
BBDO
Tom Richards
Co-Global Chief Creative Officer
21GRAMS
Tiffany Rolfe
EVP & US Chief Creative Officer
R/GA
Sydney Scott Sam
Founder
Workspace Global
William Seabrook
Global Chief Creative Officer
IBM
Shagun Seda
Creative Head - West
DDB Mudra Group
Ruchi Sharma
Founder & CCO
HumanSense
Jeremy Shure
Global Head of Early Stage Practice
Grasshopper Bank
Ariana Stolarz
Global Chief Strategy Officer
MRM//McCann
Bill Tai
Founder
ACTAI Global
Kwame Taylor-Hayford
Co-Founder
Kin
Amanda Terry
Vice President
Acxiom
Natalia Vega-Berry
Chief Impact Officer
The Global Brain
Renato Winnig
Global Head of Branding and Creative Direction
Natura &Co
On 1 June, winners of the Future Impact category at the 2022 D&AD Awards enrolled onto the D&AD Impact Programme. Find out more about them, and their work, below.
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.
See who was awarded this year's Impact and Future Impact Pencils at the D&AD Awards Ceremony.
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