VCU Brandcenter Students Earn D&AD New Blood Pencils and Portfolio Awards

VCU Brandcenter students continue to earn recognition on one of the world’s biggest creative stages.

At the 2026 D&AD New Blood Awards, Brandcenter students took home one Yellow Pencil, three Wood Pencils, and four Portfolio Awards, adding to the program’s tradition of success in one of the industry’s most competitive student competitions.

The awards recognize outstanding emerging creative talent from around the world, celebrating work that pushes ideas forward across advertising, design, and marketing.

Check out the winning projects and portfolio winners below.

Pencil Winners

Twix Brady

Winner: Yellow Pencil
Category: Twix

Chen Li (Art Direction, 2026)
Lori Tsai (Art Direction, 2026)
Casey Hickman (Copywriting, 2026)
Mentors: Berwyn Hung, Tom Scharpf (Art Direction, 1998)

Remember when NFL legend Tom Brady cloned his pet dog? This campaign builds on Twix’s “Two Is More Than One” platform with a cheeky nod to Brady’s real-life partnership with biotech company Colossal Biosciences. The rollout teases that Brady has cloned himself to fuel speculation, before revealing the real product launch: limited-edition Brady-shaped Twix bars.

Mikuro

Winner: Wood Pencil
Category: Affinity + Canva

Divyya Munshi (Strategy, 2027)

Mikuro is a satirical luxury omakase restaurant where the tasting menu is microplastics. Named for the Japanese word for ‘micro,’ Mikuro reframes humanity’s quiet acceptance of plastic consumption as a fine dining experience, complete with a prix fixe menu you never ordered. The campaign satirizes inaction on the stalled UN Global Plastics Treaty by giving the crisis the polish it doesn’t deserve and the attention it does. Every touchpoint, from the tasting menu to the receipt tallying your particle count, directs audiences to one demand: finalize the treaty. Designed with Affinity and Canva.

See more of Mikuro on the D&AD site.

Big Ideas Need Space

Category: Share your passion
Winner: Wood Pencil

John Marenic (Art Direction, 2026)
Nick Luna (Copywriting, 2027)
Josef Pellegrini (Copywriting, 2026)
Noah McKee (Creative Brand Management, 2026)
Mentor: Berwyn Hung

In advertising, nothing is more valuable than a unique perspective. So this team sent a self promotional ad into outer space with a weather balloon and documented its ascent with a GoPro.

See their behind-the-scenes documentary and more on the Big Ideas Need Space site.

Canesten: Do You

Category: Canesten
Winner: Wood Pencil

Sarah Flynn (Art Direction, 2026)
Logan Murray (Art Direction, 2026)
Marissa Price (Copywriting, 2026)
Ivana Wade (Strategy, 2026)
Lawler Watkins (Creative Brand Management, 2026)
Mentor: Berwyn Hung

Women are more proactive about their health than ever before, prioritizing sleep, stress, and overall wellbeing, yet sexual health remains underserved. Orgasms support better sleep, lower stress, and stronger immune function, but women still masturbate far less frequently than men due to persistent stigma. Building on Canesten’s legacy of breaking barriers in women’s health, Do You targets these stigmas in Mexico and Canada by reframing masturbation as not just normal but necessary. The new product line CanesO provides tools to help women take control without shame.