Motion Sickness + FINCH score Grand Award at 46th AWARD Awards; DDB Aotearoa scores six Gold Pencils; DDB named Agency Network of the Year

August 14 2025, 11:00 pm | BY Ricki Green | No Comments

The winners of the 46th annual AWARD Awards have just been announced tonight, the finale of This Way Up, AWARD’s annual creative festival in Sydney. A total of 36 Gold pencils were awarded across 19 different campaigns, with a further 87 Silver and 177 Bronze pencils awarded. Special Awards were also awarded across 16 categories. View more people pics from the night here.

Motion Sickness and FINCH have taken out this year’s Grand Award for NZHF ‘Make New Zealand The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes’, which also collected four gold pencils.

DDB has been crowned Agency Network of the Year, taking home nine gold pencils across five campaigns including DDB Group Aotearoa with a total of six golds; four for Goodman Fielder New Zealand ‘Certified Toasters’ and two for Samsung Electronics New Zealand ‘The Worst Children’s Library’, whilst DDB Group Australia scored three golds for Volkswagen ‘RooBadge’, Solid Lines ‘The Forbidden Flagmoji’ and Made By Dyslexia ‘The University of Dyslexic Thinking’.

Bear Meets Eagle On Fire has been named Individual Agency of the Year with eight gold pencils across four campaigns including three for Telstra ‘Better on a Better Network’, three for Telstra ‘Silent Films’ and two for Telstra ‘Wherever We Go’.

New Zealand Pencil Winners:

DDB Group New Zealand:
Gold – Goodman Fielder New Zealand ‘Certified Toasters’ (x4)
Gold – Samsung Electronics New Zealand ‘The Worst Children’s Library’ (x2)
Silver – Samsung Electronics New Zealand ‘The Worst Children’s Library’ (x3)
Silver – Goodman Fielder New Zealand ‘Certified Toasters’
Silver – Goodman Fielder New Zealand ‘Breadywear’
Bronze – Samsung Electronics New Zealand ‘The Worst Children’s Library’
Bronze – Goodman Fielder New Zealand ‘Toastcards – Vogel’s Very Thin’

Motion Sickness:
Gold – The New Zealand Herpes Foundation ‘Make New Zealand The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes’ (x4)
Silver – The New Zealand Herpes Foundation ‘Make New Zealand The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes’ (x2)
Silver – Karanghape Road Business Association ‘EAT IT’
Bronze – Karanghape Road Business Association ‘EAT IT’ (x2)
Bronze – Whānau Ora ‘Real-Time Reo’

TBWA\New Zealand:
Silver – 2degrees ‘Reshaping Rugby. The World’s First TikTok Final’
Bronze – 2degrees ‘Reshaping Rugby. The World’s First TikTok Final’ (x2)
Bronze – ANZ Bank New Zealand ‘ANZ x AFC Day One’ (x2)

Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand:
Silver – Toyota New Zealand ‘Hilux Hybrid – 3.5 Tonne Headline’
Bronze – Chorus ‘The Not Fine Print’

Assembly:
Silver – Ministry of Social Development ‘Love Creep’

FCB Aotearoa:
Bronze – ONE New Zealand ‘Finding Jade’

VML New Zealand:
Bronze – Kaibosh ‘Rescued Jingles’

Motion Sickness + FINCH score Grand Award at 46th AWARD Awards; DDB Aotearoa scores six Gold Pencils; DDB named Agency Network of the Year

Says Nils Leonard, Founder, Uncommon London and this year’s Jury President: “Sometimes the best work does exactly what it shouldn’t. This work isn’t trying to fit into algorithms; it slices through them, using brash and childlike patter to make an important and grown-up point. The best work does more than answer a brief but becomes a reference point for a time; this stuff has that energy. Irreverent. Unignorable. Important.”

Says AWARD Chair Mandie van der Merwe, CCO, Saatchi & Saatchi: “Congratulations to every gold, silver and bronze winner at this year’s AWARD Awards. You’ve earned serious bragging rights across APAC and probably given your creative rivals a few wounds to lick. Your work didn’t just stand out; it made us lean in, moved us, and inspired action.

“A huge shout-out to our Special Awards winners as well. You’re at the pointy end of creativity, setting the benchmark for the work AWARD champions and celebrations in this part of the world.

“The AWARD Awards remain the most prestigious creative show in our region thanks to our world-class judges. My heartfelt thanks to our jury president, Nils Leonard, our jury chairs, and every judge who gave their time, energy and strong opinions freely, debating vigorously to uphold AWARD’s exacting standards for recognising creative excellence year after year.”