Black Pencil

The Holy Grail of design and advertising - the much coveted D&AD Gold Award, known as the 'Black Pencil' - has been won by two design entries in this year's prestigious D&AD Awards. A series of Fruit & Veg stamps by johnson banks for the Royal Mail and the moving interactive installation Ship of Ideas created by Atelier Markgraph for a German tourist authority have gained the world's highest accolade from a team of expert judges.

The D&AD Awards hold a special kudos as they are not automatically awarded each year. Only on the rare occasion that a piece of work breaks the mould or sets a new standard of excellence in creativity is the 'Black Pencil' awarded and last year no D&AD Gold Award was given. Likewise, the D&AD Silver Awards, the 'Yellow Pencils' are awarded for the most innovative and creative work in advertising and design, some categories this year received only nominations or inclusions in the D&AD Annual.

There are 53 D&AD Silver Award winners this year. In addition to Cog the television advertisement for Honda UK by Wieden + Kennedy UK, winners include the Adidas commercial Kicking it starring Jonny Wilkinson and David Beckham for which The Quarry received an award for Television and Cinema Crafts. In Music Videos Shynola, The Oil Factory and Parlophone Records UK picked up an award for Blur's Good Song, DDB