Since 1962, D&AD has stimulated and enabled creative excellence and will continue to support the creative community through this period of unprecedented uncertainty. The 2021 Awards will recognise exceptional work created within the past year in the belief that platforming creative thinking is always worthwhile, particularly in times of strife.

Following the success of the 2020 Awards, D&AD’s distinguished jurors will once again assemble virtually to review the work, holding each piece to the same high standards that the Awards are renowned for. The only exceptions are the Branding, Graphic, Product, Packaging, Book, Magazine & Newspaper Design and Writing for Design categories, where in-person judging is essential.

The panels for this year’s awards will be led by some of the industry’s biggest and brightest names including: Ratna Desai, director of Product Design at Netflix, heading up the Digital Design jury; Jayanta Jenkins, global head of Marketing at Disney+, leading the Experiential category, and Sergio Gordilho, co-president & CCO of Africa, driving the Art Direction jury.

As the creative industries constantly evolve, the D&AD Awards evolve with it. Multiple new categories this year aim to represent the changing landscape of the creative sector, each being judged by leading figures within each discipline.

Amongst these exciting additions is the launch of E-commerce, a category encompassing everything from Purchase Experience to Brand Partnerships, with Jean Lin, global CEO, Creative of Dentsu Inc acting as jury president. Managing director of UNIT9, Rosh Singh, will lead the Gaming category, looking to award creative excellence in gamified experiences. Type Design has also been established as a stand alone category this year, aiming to award the best design of single font styles and font families, with Panos Vassiliou, head of Creative at Parachute Typefoundry, leading the jury.

As well as these new categories, 2021 sees the reintroduction of Writing for Advertising and Writing for Design as two distinct categories, with Eric Kallman, CCO and co-founder of Erich & Kallman and Russell Davies, VP of Marketing at Bulb, as the respective jury presidents.

Donal Keenan, awards director at D&AD, commented: “We are always striving to award the most ambitious, thought provoking work through the D&AD Awards, which can only be achieved through the expertise of our judges. Last year’s jury showed us that the meticulous judging process can be successfully replicated in a virtual fashion, something we are continuing this year. There is no doubt that our exciting list of industry experts will once again take the challenge in their stride and reflect D&AD’s pride in the celebration of the creative industries.”

A full list of this year’s jury, alongside details of the new categories, judging criteria and pricing, can be found on the D&AD website.