Why creative excellence is only as good as the diversity of perspectives judging it

The importance of diverse juries is something echoed by D&AD Awards Director Donal Keenan. “The diversity of voices on any jury is massively important,” he says. “Without it, we can't begin to suggest that the work awarded is excellent or exceptional in any way. When a body of work is awarded by a singular homogenised group, you may find some gems, but you can only claim 'It's the best of global creativity' if judged by a diverse group of global creatives.

We need to have different perspectives to debate what is great. The challenge: set perceptions and award the truly excellent.”

This was proven to me when discussing a women's equality campaign that had made it through to the shortlist. It was undeniably a good cause. But as a woman, I found the campaign belittled the issue. It felt tokenistic. What I found so refreshing is that our jury head Jimmy Smith, CEO at Amusement Park Entertainment, made a point of asking the women in the room what they thought. It seems so simple, but it meant we felt heard. The male jurors took the time to listen to our opinion and make their own decision – the work did not make it through to the next round.

It stuck with me when Jimmy told us: “I don’t want to be the jury that voted something out because we didn’t understand it.” This understanding doesn’t just need to be about cause-based issues, it can be campaigns outside our speciality, for a different target audience, a different market with a different language or cultural or political perspective.

For example, we had a youth-focused TikTok campaign that was a 10-minute film. When deciding if it was worth a Pencil, a debate ensued that it was really just a long commercial. But then a younger juror with a social media background pointed out that not only was this the first TikTok that was 10-minutes long, the fact it could hold the attention of 'the most distracted generation' was actually incredibly impressive. Gen-Z was willing to seek the film out and share it. She knew how hard it was to make something that stood out, for a brand that wasn’t deemed “cool” by this audience. We listened to her perspective and it made us see our own biases, that, maybe as older jury members we just didn’t get TikTok, or had come to it with preconceived notions.

But what if these voices representing varied backgrounds and experiences haven’t won a Pencil? Are they really qualified to judge? Diversity on juries has been a hot topic on blogs in Australia, where I’m from, with claims that we are filling diversity quotas.

To win a D&AD Pencil is to win one of the most coveted creative awards in our industry. These awards are decided by judges who ask: does the work reach a certain standard of creative excellence, or not? The jury works through each round of entries to determine if it progresses to the next. A jury with diverse perspectives, experience and expertise can offer points of view at each stage in this process. This is valuable because to judge whether a piece of work has reached these standards, you first need a jury that understands the work.

As a queer female director, the reaction to my jury announcement from the industry in Australia made me feel that I was filling a diversity quota. The sentiment from some online commenters was ‘how can someone judge an award they’ve never individually won?’; that the people representing diverse voices “aren’t tall enough to ride and it undermines the winning,” in the words of one blogger. It rattles your self-worth, it made me think I was not qualified to judge these standards.

It is something that RUN Aotearoa Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Raymond Otene McKay also experienced. As an independent Māori-owned agency founder and creative – can I just point out that starting your own agency and advocating for voices is incredibly impressive – he turned his negative experience, getting criticised by these online commenters, into a positive one, gifting D&AD with their own pencil after his talk at D&AD Festival on cultural appropriation and indigenous culture. Designed and carved by his brothers, it was inspired by Mckay’s ancestral saying: “Kaua e haere me te rae anake,” which means ‘Don’t go with only your head’, or ‘Don't go empty handed.’ It was a thank-you to opening the space to indigenous people and others in a minority.

“The trepidation I felt in that moment, as I came across negative comments towards me from some in my industry had a profound effect on my confidence,” says McKay. “However, in my dignity and my imposter syndrome, I picked myself up as only a creative can do and turned a negative into a positive, introducing the Manaakitanga Pencil, an indigenous expression of reciprocity to D&AD and our industry.”

It’s a complicated issue full of systemic challenges. A homogeneous group has been the voice of our industry. And if we aren’t hiring diverse talent, promoting them and giving them opportunities, then they can’t be there to win the awards. But as an industry that prides itself on championing equality in the work we make, we should champion equality in the way we judge it. Because if these diverse voices aren’t in the judging rooms, they’re not there to recognise and elevate the work that they consider excellent.

Impact-based campaigns have the potential to be a really good thing. (I care about how queer stories and women’s stories are told, but they have to be done with the right intention.) But it extends outside cause-based campaigns. Whether you are representing a country, a culture, a generation, a sport, TikTokers, car owners or even what it’s like to shop at a discount supermarket – talk to someone who represents that voice before you do it, or better, work with creatives that can authentically tell stories from a place of lived experience.

The Glue Society makes a point of bringing lived experience into our directing projects. Mona Foma’s The Tasmanian Queer Woodchop Championships and ANZ’s GAYNZ were queer stories that were made with queer directors, designers and crew. Queer Woodchop took the heritage sport of woodchopping and collaborated with LGBTQI+ artists to create their spin on a Nike ad spot with a queer gaze. GAYNZ' turned a branch of one of Australia’s largest banks into a celebration of being queer – at a time in Australia when not many brands were supporting the community. It was a step towards normalising and celebrating. The films were made with people that could speak to their experience, offer insights, and tell their own story.

D&AD also tries to find creatives that can speak to their experiences, offer insights and tell their stories. Not everybody who judges a Pencil has won one, but what it takes to win is understood. The judging criteria is set, what qualifies as finalists and Pencil-winners is clear. The jury is there to say whether the work has reached those standards, and how those standards should be interpreted as times change.

The Pencil-winning work from this year is testament to the right people telling the right stories. Somesuch & Co UK’s beautifully crafted short The Greatest, which won a Yellow Pencil in Direction, is an example of consulting a community that you are representing. The two-minute film from Apple that showcases how its new features makes life easier for those with a disability, and is set to a musical interpretation of Muhammad Ali’s “I’ll show you how great I am” speech. It did so in an authentic way that challenges stereotypes. And it did it in a way that was also authentic to the product.

Collaboration is key, as displayed by We Are Warriors, which won a Yellow Pencil in Branding. For the initiative created for Blak excellence, R/GA Australia collaborated with Indigenous Australians, allies and brands to empower Indigenous young people to succeed. And it showed the power indigenous voices can have to influence the brands that they are working with.

Jim Sutherland, Jury President for Banding, says, “We Are Warriors was my favourite piece of work this year. It was powerful, impactful and unexpected. Hearing first hand, from a local juror, about the effect it had in Australia certainly elevated it.”

Reflecting on his experience leading the jury, he says he found the experience inspiring: “We had an amazingly diverse jury, from Canada, Australia, New York, Spain and Japan as well as the UK. We had work to judge from all of these places – and having voices from those communities was invaluable. You can judge the look and feel and idea, but several projects had local societal or language nuances that really needed a local to refer to. This especially applied to some Asian work. Often one can be seduced by the craft of work in another alphabet – so some sense of understanding is essential.”

In our jury room, Entertainment, there was a standout moment discussing an Audio entry. BBDO Canada and Muskrat Magazine’s Missing Matoaka is a full-length alternative audio track that tells the true story of Pocahontas – starting with her real name, Matoaka. The piece was written by indigenous writers and performed by indigenous actors. Some on the jury wondered if it would have been better if Disney had taken on the project, but it was more authentic because of the creatives involved and the agenda they had. It was a small charity raising awareness of the violence Indigenous women face, and how their story has been warped.

In the jury room, the judges are looking at the purpose of the work, who was involved in the work, and what it took to make that work, so having judges who can recognise and understand that work is vital – far from “filling a quota”. Awards should not only invite diverse juries, but have work entered from creatives all over the world representing diverse lived experiences. This is why we need to hire those voices and promote them further up the creative industry ladder. Having these voices in our industry enriches it. When we are in the position to speak to the whole world, who is speaking matters.