D&AD Awards 2021 Terms & Conditions

The D&AD Awards are organised by D&AD (registered company No. 883234, registered charity No. 305992) whose registered office is at 64 Cheshire Street, London, E2 6EH, United Kingdom. These are the terms and conditions that apply to the D&AD Awards (“Awards Rules”). These Awards Rules consist of the General Rules and the Entry Criteria. These Terms and Conditions should be read in conjunction with the D&AD Awards 2021 Entry Kit, available at: www.dandad.org/awards, which also applies to all entries into the D&AD Awards. If there is a conflict or inconsistency between these Awards Rules and the Entry Kit, these Awards Rules shall take precedence to the extent necessary to resolve the conflict or inconsistency. By submitting an entry for the D&AD Awards (“Entry”), each person, company or organisation submitting an Entry (“Entrant”) warrants and represents that they are eligible to enter the D&AD Awards and accepts and agrees to comply fully with these Awards Rules and the Entry Kit.

General Rules 

1. Awards Qualifying Entry Period 

1.1 In order to be eligible for entry into the D&AD Awards, all submissions must relate to work that was commercially released or otherwise made available to the public during the periods specified in the Rules/Eligibility section of the Entry Kit (“Awards Qualifying Entry Period”), unless specified in clauses 

1.2 to 1.8 below. 

1.2 Entries in the Digital Design/Incremental Category may be commercially released outside the Awards Qualifying Entry Period, but must have been developed or significantly changed within the Awards Qualifying Entry Period. 

1.3 Entries in the Digital Design/Beta and Side Hustle Categories may not be commercially released, but must have been developed or significantly changed within the Awards Qualifying Entry Period. 

1.4 Entries in the Product Design/Prototypes category must be commercially viable and brought to market within six months of the Entry being submitted. 

1.5 Entries in the Integrated/Established Campaigns and PR/Established Campaigns Categories must have been commercially released prior to 14 April 2018 and commercially active within the Awards Qualifying Entry Period. 

1.6 Entries in the Next Category must have been commercially released or completed within three years of the Talent being commercially active. 

1.7 Entries in the Impact category are subject to a qualifying entry period of 1 January 2019 - 14 April 2021. Entries into the Impact/Sustained Solution subcategory may be commercially released outside these dates, but must have been commercially active since 1 January 2019. 

1.8 Entries in the Future Impact Category are not subject to Awards Qualifying Entry Period.

2. Submission of Eligible Entries 

2.1 Entrants must submit their Entry in one of the categories specified in the Award Categories section of the Entry Kit (each a “Category”). All Entries must comply with the applicable entry criteria specified in the Entry Criteria section of these Awards Rules. Entries must be submitted in the format and media applicable to the relevant Category, as specified in the Submission Formats section of the Entry Kit, unless otherwise agreed in writing with D&AD. If payment is not cleared prior to judging, D&AD reserves the right to withdraw the Entry from the Awards and continue to pursue payment for monies owed.

2.2 Entries must be submitted in the form originally released commercially or otherwise made available to the public. Alterations may only be made to work comprising an Entry for the sole purpose of satisfying the requirements for the presentation of Entries. Requests for format alterations outside of those listed in the Entry Kit will not be accepted. 

2.3 Entries in a language other than English are eligible for entry, but a translation must be supplied in the format applicable to the relevant Category as specified in the Entry Kit (for example, subtitles, dubbing, narration, translation of radio script or printed translation). Translations provided in a format other than those specified in the Entry Kit are not permitted and may result in entries being disqualified. For categories where writing is judged, translations are not applicable as all entries must be originally released in English. 

2.4 No refunds will be given for duplicate Entries. If D&AD is not advised of duplicate Entries by Entrants promptly, only the first Entry to be paid for and received will be accepted. 

2.5 If the Entrant has collaborated on a piece of work with any other entity or person, it is the Entrant’s responsibility to ensure that: a. The Entry is only submitted by one of the collaborating parties who will be the designated Entrant and will be responsible for administering all aspects of the Entry. b. If the Entry qualifies for an award in the D&AD Awards, the names and other details of all other individuals and companies who have collaborated are provided to D&AD as part of the Entry submission process or otherwise in response to a request for credit information in accordance with Rule 5. 

2.6 Entrants are solely responsible for selecting the correct Category when submitting an Entry. However, D&AD reserves the right to move Entries to more appropriate Categories if deemed appropriate by D&AD in D&AD’s sole discretion. Such action may be taken without informing the Entrant. However, it is not the responsibility of D&AD to amend Entries or move them to different Categories if they have been entered incorrectly. 

2.7 Entrants shall be entitled to amend any aspect of an Entry up to a maximum of 48 hours after the time that the Entry was first submitted. The right to amend an Entry shall include the right to add, remove and replace any materials forming part of an Entry. For the avoidance of doubt, provided that the Entrant has submitted an Entry before the final 17 March 2021 deadline for entering the D&AD Awards, the Entrant shall have the full 48-hour period to make any amendments to that Entry, even if the 48-hour period expires after the final deadline for entering the D&AD Awards.

2.8 Entrants shall be entitled to withdraw their Entry and receive a full refund up to a maximum of 48 hours after the time that the Entry was first submitted, minus any bank and credit card processing fees. For the avoidance of doubt, no refunds will be granted on any entries 48 hours after being submitted via the D&AD entry site. 

2.9 Entries will be judged on the quality of the materials submitted and therefore Entrants must ensure that digital files are of good quality. D&AD shall be under no obligation to request alternative or replacement materials. 

2.10 Entrants submitting Entries concerning an integrated campaign may be required to submit specific elements of such campaign or evidence that the campaign was across multiple different mediums. 

2.11 Entrants must ensure that physical Entries arrive with D&AD by 31 March 2021 or no later than 5 days after online entry. Refer to Rules 10 and 11 for withdrawals and refund rights. 

2.12 If, after submission of an Entry, an Entrant becomes aware that their Entry has infringed any rights (including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, privacy rights and other rights) of any person or any applicable laws, regulations or voluntary or regulatory codes, the Entrant shall contact D&AD immediately to request the withdrawal of the Entry from the Awards. 

2.13 Entries in the Future Impact Category will not be eligible to enter any other Awards Categories except Product Design/Prototypes, Digital Design/Beta and Side Hustle, subject to meeting their criteria. 

2.14 Entries in the Impact Category will not be eligible to enter the Future Impact Category

3. Judging of the Awards 

3.1 D&AD will appoint a jury, which shall be composed of judges who in D&AD’s sole discretion have the appropriate qualifications to judge the Entries. Judges shall consider all Entries on the basis of the judging criteria explained in the D&AD Awards 2021 Entry Kit. 

3.2 D&AD will provide judges with standard audio-visual equipment and technology for the purpose of judging Entries. If any Entry requires any non-standard, bespoke or unusual equipment or technology in order to be considered in the judging process (for example, VR equipment), it is the sole responsibility of the Entrant to provide such equipment or technology (and to ensure that such equipment and technology is appropriately insured) unless D&AD agrees otherwise in writing with the Entrant in advance. 

3.3 Judges will be required to watch at least five minutes of any long-form content submitted. In the event that an Entry progresses to Wood Pencil round, the judges will be required to watch the content in its entirety, before awarding any Pencils. 

3.4 Entries will be judged on the basis of the materials supplied to D&AD. Judging will take place during the period April - May 2021. 

3.5 During the judging process all juries are reminded of the Awards Rules and are asked to consider whether Entries comply with the Awards Rules. In the event that a jury queries the eligibility of an Entry, the Entrant will be required to provide such documentary evidence or supplementary information as may reasonably be required to demonstrate the eligibility of an Entry. D&AD reserves the right to (i) suspend an Entry from the D&AD Awards until such time as an investigation has been concluded; and (ii) remove an Entry from the D&AD Awards at any stage following investigation if it is not fully satisfied that the Entry is eligible and/or the Awards Rules have been fully complied with. 

3.6 Entrants must ensure that they are reasonably available for, and respond promptly to, enquiries from the judging panel during the period from the date of submission of their Entry through to the presentation of the awards. 

3.7 The decisions of the judges in the D&AD Awards are final. No correspondence will be entered into with Entrants concerning any judging decision.