Winners from Eight Countries Announced for ADC Young Guns 23

Jan. 14, 2026

The global Art Directors Club, part of The One Club for Creativity, announced the diverse group of 28 talented young individuals and four creative teams based in eight countries who are the winners in the prestigious ADC Young Guns 23 competition, celebrating global creative professionals age 30 or younger.

ADC Young Guns is the industry’s only global, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies and celebrates today’s vanguard of young creative professionals.  

This year’s winners are:

• Nic Antaya, documentary photographer, Detroit
• Omer Ben-Shachar, writer, director, Los Angeles
• Emma Branderhorst, director, the corner shop, Amsterdam/London
• Esteban Cardona Jiménez and Jordan Baron Pories (team), creative directors, Coinbase, New York/Seattle
• Christopher Clark, cinematographer, Los Angeles
• Lucas D’Ascenção, designer, DASC design, São Paulo
• Victoria Escobar, graphic designer, The New York Times Magazine, New York
• Tom Emmerson, director, Serial Pictures, London
• Vanissa Foo, illustrator, Kuala Lumpur
• Hannan Hussain, director, SOFTSPOT WORLD LLC, Brooklyn
• Chantal Jahchan, designer, illustrator, Pentagram, New York
• Kalum Ko, photographer, director, New York
• Keita Kuki, technologist, art director, Dentsu, Tokyo
• Rachel LeBlanc, associate creative director, and Ryan Cookish, art director (team), Rethink Toronto
• Hayley Lim, designer, director, Montréal
• Michael Lim, animator, Kuala Lumpur
• Renald Louissaint, art director, graphic designer, Brooklyn
• Lucas Luz, creative director, designer, Rio de Janeiro
• Christian Meissner, motion designer, designer, MullenLowe Design Studio, New York
• Mia Meredith, graphic designer, The New York Times, New York
• Metals (team of Chase Shewbridge, art director, and Eddie Mandell, designer), Brooklyn
• Madeline Montoya, art director, Bloomberg Businessweek, New York
• Paladino (team of Gabriel Avelar and Beto Galloni), film directors, Iconoclast, São Paulo
• Lucas Raimondo, editor, Trim Edit, Los Angeles
• Sollin Sæle, art director, Wieden+Kennedy, New York
• Parker Schmidt, director, Los Angeles
• Benjamin Schwaeber, film editor, Greenpoint Pictures, New York
• Beatrice Tremblay-Bégin, colorist, Montréal
• Shy Trutwein, designer, illustrator, After Hours, Melbourne
• Fred Wiltshire, type designer, London
• Antonio Reinhard Wisesa, illustrator, concept artist, Tangerang Selatan, Banten
• Zac Dov Wiesel, director, Pulse Films, Los Angeles
• Tyler Wong, creative and art director, Critical Mass, Calgary

Entries were judged by a diverse jury of 98 creative professionals — many of whom are past ADC YG winners — from 41 countries.

The complete list of ADC Young Guns 23 finalists based in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, UAE, UK and US, can be viewed here.  

This year’s winners will be celebrated at a special awards ceremony and party on January 28, 2026 at Sony Hall in New York.

At the event, The One Club will also announce the ADC Young Guns 23 Creative Choice Award winner, as voted by the global creative community.  Anyone can view the work of this year’s winners and vote on which one they believe stands above all others. Voting is now open on the winners page, with a deadline of Monday, January 26, 2026, 11:59 pm PT.

All winners receive a unique version of the iconic ADC Young Guns Cube, designed exclusively for this year’s incoming class, and have their permanent profile page added to the ADC Young Guns website.  

Winners also receive a complimentary one-year One Club for Creativity membership, permanent membership in the ADC Young Guns network, a chance to be featured in events and an assortment of career-boosting opportunities from ADC Young Guns sponsors.

Levine/Leavitt Artist In Residence Award

For the 11th consecutive year, international artists management agency and ADC Young Guns sponsor Levine/Leavitt will bestow one winner with the Artist In Residence Award.

The honor, presented annually at the ADC YG celebration, goes to a newly crowned Young Gun whose body of work truly stands out, as judged by an advisory board of industry professionals across a range of disciplines.  The winner receives a full year of professional development, guidance and mentorship from Levine/Leavitt to help advance their career.  

Program branding and design of the ADC Young Guns Cube award itself are reimagined each year by a past ADC Young Guns winner.  This year’s branding was created by ADC YG23 jury member Khyati Trehan (ADC YG19), a talented graphic designer and 3D visual artist originally from New Delhi who now serves as senior designer at Google Creative Lab in New York.