Looking back at standout work made by D&AD Awards 2026 Judges

We’ve just announced our judges for D&AD Awards 2026 and want to celebrate the mind-boggling talent that will join us in London in May to choose the best creative work of the year. What better way to do it than showcase some of the work these judges have submitted to us over the years that have won coveted D&AD Pencils?

Here are just a few of the people joining us:

Marilena Vatseri

Marilena Vatseri, Executive Producer and Creative Partner at NOMINT will be judging the Animation category and has previously won a D&AD Graphite Pencil for Can't Negotiate the Melting Point of Ice. The emotional film was created to raise awareness around the devastating destruction of the Arctic for WWF, using the natural melting properties of ice as a metaphor for the urgency of the situation.

John "Rankin" Waddell

Photographer Rankin will judge at D&AD Awards for the first time in 2026, having won several Pencils over the years. His accolades include a Wood Pencil for Rankin Portraits, published by Moore Print, and for his collaboration with the paper brand GF Smith on a rare, collectible 32-page book featuring portraits that won a Wood Pencil in 1999.

Alice Mourou

Alice Mourou will be judging D&AD’s New Brand Identity category in 2026 and has previously won a Wood Pencil in Packaging Design for her work on the bottle design for .Oddity – a niche perfume house devoted to visual and olfactory arts.

Lee Rolston

Lee Rolston will be joining us to judge a new category, Brand Transformation, having recently crafted iconic revamps with his team at JKR for Burger King, Dunkin', and Budweiser. Rolston previously won a D&AD Black Pencil for the memorable Cadbury Gorilla ad, which repositioned Cadbury from a chocolate brand to ‘producers of happiness’.

Claire Robertshaw

Claire Robertshaw, Group Executive Creative Director at Design Bridge and Partners will be judging Packaging Design in 2026, having previously won a Wood Pencil in the category for her work on packaging for Fortnum’s Famous Animal Crackers, which features an ensemble cast of seven ‘Animal Cracker’ characters inspired by Victorian brass nutcrackers.

D&AD Awards 2026 is now open for entries. Enter your work by 19 March 2026 to win a D&AD Pencil, widely regarded as the creative industry's highest accolade.