The One Show 2021 Opens Call for Entries Supported by Campaign by Wolff Olins
Posted on 2020 Nov,10


After providing the creative community with this year’s largest global awards show and definitive international and regional creative rankings, The One Club for Creativity has opened the call for entries for The One Show 2021, supported by an inspiring campaign from Wolff Olins.

Notable changes have been made to help agencies and brands who continue to be affected by the global pandemic, including extended deadlines and new categories and disciplines that reflect the way the industry now works.

“In a year when for-profit shows like Cannes cancelled their awards, The One Club doubled down on its non-profit mission to support the creative community and recognize great work with 2020’s largest global awards program and definitive creative rankings,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO. “We’re extremely grateful for this enthusiastic backing from agencies and brands around the world because their participation in The One Show directly funds so many critical programming we produce all year to help the industry.”

“Embrace the Moment” campaign by Wolff Olins

The One Show 2021 call for entries is supported by an inspiring “Embrace the Moment” campaign developed by Wolff Olins.  

The campaign frames 2020 as an unforgettable year that introduced unprecedented challenges for the creative industry: a persistent pandemic, a global civil rights awakening, contentious political campaigns and a fundamental re-evaluation of everything that came before. But some things remain constant: great work should always be recognized, especially when that work was created in the face of great adversity.

The campaign introduces the computer screen as the flawed hero, one we were reluctantly wedded to earlier this year as a necessary evil at the onset of lockdowns around the world. Over time, the screen became a meaningful bridge to others, and transformed in our minds from a rectangular prison to an inspirational portal.

Using the tagline “Embrace the Moment”, the campaign presents a series of vignettes that mirror our collective 2020 journeys and conflicted relationship with the screen. These include initially getting sucked into it, finding a new work-from-home balance, discovering screen-based tools and people, and becoming inspired.

"The campaign is imagined as a love letter to the creative community,” said Forest Young, chief creative officer, Wolff Olins. “It’s an optimistic time capsule that embraces the resilience and perseverance made tangible by 2020.”

The agency partnered with renowned Swedish artist Magoz to bring to life a surreal take on this year inspired by the psychedelic vision of “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles, who were the first client of Wolff Olins.  

New categories and disciplines

The One Show has added new categories and disciplines for 2021 to address new developments in the industry and the world, including:
    •    Innovation & Transformation, a new Innovation category added to each discipline to recognize the ingenuity required to overcome limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
    •    Virtual Events, with experiential categories in several disciplines expanded to accommodate the variety of events taking place in digital environments.
    •    Music & Sound Craft, for the first year being offered as a separate discipline with its own jury.

Judging will be conducted online, no physical entries will be accepted this year. All entry media must be uploaded into the online entry system.

The One Show 2021 juries will be announced soon. Online judging will take place March through May 2021, with finalists announced in mid-May.  The One Show 2021 Gold, Silver and Bronze Pencil winners will be announced on June 9-10, 2021.

Entries can be submitted now and will be accepted later this season, with fees increasing after each deadline period. Early entry deadline for the greatest savings is December 31, 2020, with the regular deadline March 12, 2021. The extended deadline is March 19, 2021, and final deadline March 26, 2021.

Revenue generated from The One Show entry fees goes back into the industry in the form of programming under the nonprofit organization’s four pillars: Educations, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality and Professional Development.