D&AD Student Awards: Your Pencil, your potential

The D&AD Student Awards have gone live with a new set of exciting challenges in advertising and design from some of the world’s leading brands. The 21 briefs are available to download for free

Winning a D&AD Student Award is never easy. D&AD has created an equal playing field between it’s student and professional awards: with Student entries being judged by many of the same industry leaders grading the professional work, furthermore, D&AD presents the student winning work with equal prominence online and at exhibitions. D&AD provides entrants with the knowledge that their work has been judged with the integrity, and due respect, equal to that of the Professional Awards.

This level of attention has been consistently paying dividends with 73 per cent of recent winners stating that the accolade helped them stand out at interviews and kick-start their career. During the 2011 Call for Entries D&AD will be releasing a series of case studies from last year and more importantly gathering together the journeys that this year’s students will undertake on their route to success. Graphic Design graduate, Michael Tierney, secured a job as a result of being recognised by the D&AD Student Awards. “I finished university on a Friday and started work the following Monday,” says Tierney. “The D&AD Student Awards gave me the chance to meet some of my creative heroes. I met an insane amount of creative people; you just want to talk to everyone. The whole process was so much fun; I want to win another Pencil.”

As part of D&AD’s commitment to making the awards the pre-eminent networking event D&AD has introduced a travel fund to ensure the presence of representatives from each team behind the winning work that will be celebrated at the ceremony. Taking place in early summer, it will enable the winners to meet the sponsors, peers and potential employers, making invaluable contacts and giving them an unrivalled head start.

With an audience reach like no other, D&AD bridges the gap between education and the industry, showcasing student work through its new website and engaging with over 100,000 creatives from around the world.

The Student Awards are open to all full or part time students enrolled on recognised undergraduate, postgraduate and Higher Education courses anywhere in the world at the time of the deadline.