ADC 106th Annual Awards Kicks Off with “In Search of What’s Next” Campaign via DixonBaxi

The global Art Directors Club continues its century-plus mission to celebrate the latest in creative brilliance with the launch of the prestigious ADC 106th Annual Awards, supported this year by the dynamic “In Search of What’s Next” call for entries campaign created and produced by DixonBaxi in London.

Founded in 1920, the ADC Annual Awards is the world’s first and longest continuously running awards program to recognize global excellence in craft and innovation in all forms of creative work, including design, advertising, film and video, product design, gaming, AI, photography, illustration, creator content, experiential, publication design, architecture, and more.  

“For 106 years, long before anyone else, the Art Directors Club has looked for the world’s finest work in all forms of design and advertising”, said Brian Collins, Art Directors Club President, and Co-founder of COLLINS.  “Our global jury of esteemed designers, art directors, filmmakers, artists, animators, photographers and writers gathers in New York City to seek the best work, the work they haven't seen before. And when they do, we all get a view of the next frontier.”

Collins calls on the creative world to do its part: “So send us your best work. Send your strangest, and your most gloriously WTF work. Because somebody great who is just getting started is counting on all of us.  And even better, because ADC is a nonprofit, every entry also funds the education, mentorship and portfolio programs that bring young talent into our profession.” 

This year’s global ADC Annual Awards launches with a compelling “In Search of What’s Next” call for entries campaign created by DixonBaxi London.

Throughout its 106-year history, ADC has engaged in a relentless search for the unusual, the bold, the brilliant, the impossible to ignore. The show’s global reputation is centered on elevating work that breaks rules, shifts culture, and pushes creativity somewhere new.  

That focus is reflected in DixonBaxi's campaign, which begins with the ADC Cube, a symbol of craft and excellence, and the point from which everything else erupts. In the work, the Cube stretches, fractures, multiplies, and misbehaves. Colors clash, ideas fire, type flips from precise to feral. The work pulls apart before finding new tension. The result is restless, elastic and alive, a visceral expression of ADC’s quest for what’s next.

The campaign uses a visual language with scale and bite, reaching across continents to pull designers, art directors, writers, creators, and strategists into “the search”. It celebrates imagination, invention, and experimentation as potent forces that put remarkable creative work into the world, and work to change what the world can be. 

The agency partnered with Zelig Sound London on sound design, creating a bespoke sonic edit that captures the nerve, heat, flow, and friction of the ADC's rigorous focus.

"The real work happens long before anyone applauds, in the ideas that don’t quite work, the unexpected breakthroughs, and the refusal to settle for what already exists,” said Tassia Swulinska, Creative Director at DixonBaxi. “We took the ADC Cube, carrying 106 years of creative excellence, and made it as restless and alive as the people who keep searching for what comes next”.

ADC 106th Annual Awards Details

Entries to the ADC 106th Annual Awards can be submitted now, with fees increasing after each deadline period.  Regular deadline is January 22, 2027, with extended deadline of February 12, 2027, and final deadline March 5, 2027.  

Noteworthy changes to this year’s show include:

• Typography and Type Design/Lettering are now two separate disciplines, judged by a single jury.
• New categories added to the Packaging Design discipline, including New Product Launch, Packaging Effectiveness, and Unboxing Experience.