Norwich students win at D&AD New Blood Awards 2026

Each year, the D&AD New Blood Awards celebrate emerging creative talent, attracting thousands of entries from graduating students around the world. This year saw 24 yellow pencils awarded across the whole competition, from over 7,000 entries internationally.

The awards recognise outstanding work across design, advertising and craft, with winners receiving industry recognition and the opportunity to showcase their work to leading employers.

Students respond to creative briefs developed in partnership with major global brands, covering a wide range of sectors. Meanwhile, New Blood: The Portfolios celebrates outstanding portfolio websites across a range of creative disciplines, including advertising, marketing, PR, animation, illustration, graphic design, digital design and commercial photography.

Students from Norwich’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and BSc (Hons) User Experience Design received the following awards in the 2026 competition:

Canal+ Concierge – Eunseo Jang, Akshata Mahale and Kurun Gill

Brief: Canal+, Yellow Pencil

What if stories didn’t end when the credits roll? Viewers are already reaching for their phones whilst streaming content, which often results in rich cultural moments becoming background entertainment. 

CANAL+ Concierge takes the ‘+’ beyond by making second-screening meaningful, turning content into culture by translating cultural scenes from screen into lived experiences. When a moment of cultural significance is reached, Concierge invites users to explore the context behind the scene. After deepening their cultural understanding, users can extend the narrative into their real-life. From cuisine to traditions, CANAL+ Concierge opens cultural pathways beyond the screen.

Canal+ Presence – Simonas Ancevicius

Brief: Canal+, Wooden Pencil

Canal+ Presence is a new way of watching your favourite shows, movies, and documentaries. In today’s world, viewers often juggle multiple series at once, while long production gaps make it easy to forget key details or lose track of the story. Canal+ Presence solves this by letting users stay fully engaged without leaving the experience. Instead of searching online and risking spoilers, viewers can simply ask questions directly within the platform, as well as interacting with characters themselves or having a companion-like presence while watching. The design works seamlessly across all devices, making it accessible to everyone, with a simple and intuitive interface that ensures users instantly understand how to use it.

Side Quests – Christie Hunt

Brief: Wise, Wooden Pencil

Side Quests is the latest feature for the Young Explorer app from Wise. It combines the parental aspiration to support young people to develop good financial skills and the young person’s desire to develop independence and make their own decisions. Financial habits that last into adulthood often start early, with a desire for something real to save for. Side Quests gets Young Explorers closer to their goals while teaching financial literacy along the way.

New Blood: The Portfolios also saw BSc (Hons) User Experience student Simonas Ancevicius selected in the category of Digital Design.

Responding to news of the award wins, Dave Watson, BSc (Hons) User Experience Design and BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Course Leader said:

“We’re incredibly proud of our students’ achievements at D&AD New Blood this year. A Yellow Pencil for Akshata, Kurun, and Eunseo, who collaborated across three of our Graphics courses. These were awarded to just 24 entries from over 7,000 internationally – a remarkable result, made even more extraordinary by the fact that they’re still in second year.

“Add to that Wood Pencils for UX graduates Simonas and Christie, plus Simonas’s selection in the D&AD Portfolios competition. An outstanding night for Graphics at Norwich.”