D&AD New Blood Awards 2026: Menstruation Project Wins Both of the Year's Top Honours

Jul. 01, 2026

The work that defined this year's D&AD New Blood Awards, announced tonight at The Steel Yard in London, was not a product launch or a brand film but a proposal to treat menstruation as a medical asset. Of the year's two Black Pencils, the rarest of the awards, one went to an entry from Denmark and the other to Kuwait.

In all, 175 Pencils were awarded across the 2026 programme: 2 Black Pencils (the highest D&AD New Blood accolade), 4 White Pencils (for work that uses the power of creativity to do good), 24 Yellow, 42 Graphite and 103 Wood Pencils. Winners spanned 29 countries, drawn from over 7,000 entrants across 78 countries, judged by 165 judges against the same standards applied to the D&AD Awards, in response to 19 briefs set by leading global brands including Twix, HSBC, Duolingo, L'Oréal, Tuborg, Wise, Carrefour and Canesten. This was the most global group of partners in D&AD’s history. 

Blood Stocks, created in response to the Canesten New Blood Brief in collaboration with Design Bridge & Partners, was developed by Jens Kühnel and Kirstine Vilsen from DMJX (Danish School of Media and Journalism), Denmark. The concept reimagines a topic long burdened by stigma through a first-of-its-kind donation model linked to the menstrual cycle, transforming monthly donors into active stakeholders in women's health research. It was the single most decorated project of the year and the only one to take both a Black Pencil, D&AD's highest accolade, and a White Pencil, the award reserved for creativity that does good in the world.

The year's second Black Pencil went to Young Explorer: Independence with a Snap, created for Wise by Mohammed Al Sane of Kuwait. It addresses the moment a child begins to need financial independence while parents still want a safety net, centring on "The Snap" a physical card that snaps apart to mark a handover of trust, paired with digital features such as an activity map and tap-to-transfer.

The other three White Pencils went to Play Aid, by Daniela Santucci and Santiago Cáceres at Miami Ad School Madrid, Spain (Affinity and Canva brief), which redesigns the inside of humanitarian food-aid packaging as printed play boards, giving children living through conflict something to play with at no extra shipping weight or cost. 2Integrate, by Guus Vercoutere and Mats Mondy at LUCA School of Arts, Belgium (Duolingo brief), partners with UNHCR to turn language learning into a survival tool, helping asylum seekers communicate in urgent, real-world situations as they rebuild their lives. And Launch Pads, by a four-strong team at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore (Affinity and Canva brief), designs period products for girls who start their periods young, built to make a first period feel ordinary rather than taboo.

In terms of global reach, Denmark was the standout among smaller nations, taking a Pencil in all five tiers: Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White and Black. The UK led globally with 51 Pencils, followed by Spain (19), France (16), Denmark (15) and the United States (11).

For 46 years, D&AD's New Blood Awards have set live briefs from global brands, with this year's briefs downloaded 227,000 times in over 90 countries. With 65% of last year's winners already in creative employment, a New Blood Pencil has become one of the clearest early signals of who the industry should be watching.

This year's Awards also reflects the long-standing support of Design Bridge & Partners, who have now reached a total of 111 Pencils through their practice of introducing the brief-sponsorship opportunity to clients.

David Patton, D&AD CEO, said:

"What strikes me most this year is how global New Blood has become, we had our highest ever number of international briefs this year and the only two Black Pencils awarded went to work made in Denmark and Kuwait. New Blood is the world's largest programme for students and emerging talent, but scale and reach are only part of the story. By setting students real briefs from leading brands, we give them the skills to progress and help bridge the gap between education and industry, wherever in the world they're starting out. None of it would be possible without our partners, university tutors and the wider creative community, 1,000 of whom came to support the students at our private view, to kick off the New Blood Festival last night."

 

The D&AD New Blood Festival with Adobe, the free annual showcase of the UK's best graduating creative talent, is taking place this week at Protein Studios in London. It features work from over 40 university courses alongside exclusive exhibitions of New Blood Award winners, plus talks from Anthony Burrill, Josh Akapo, Seen Studios and Mother, to name but a few.