This page includes important information and frequently asked questions about entering the Young Ones Student Awards. We recommend reading this page in its entirety before submitting an entry.
Need additional information? Try asking our Young Ones Virtual Assistant (a.k.a. our Robot) or contact us directly at education@oneclub.org. Our office is open Monday–Friday, 9:30 AM–6:00 PM ET/NYC.
By entering the Young Ones Competition, you acknowledge that you have read the information below and that your work meets the eligibility criteria.
Entries are accepted only through the online entry system at youngones.org. All entry materials must be digital, and no physical entries will be accepted.
To learn more about entry media and when you can make edits during the entry process, review Entries & Media. The decisions of the Young Ones Competition jury are final, including determinations as to eligibility. Review Eligibility to confirm that your entry is eligible.
Yes. Students can submit entries into as many categories as they would like. However, entries can only win up to two (2) top awards in each discipline. A top award is a Gold Cube, Pencil, TDC Award, or Portfolio Award.
Incomplete entries and entries that do not meet the entry criteria will be disqualified. Once you have closed your entry, it will be subject to judging and payment. You will be prompted on screen to confirm that you intend to submit the work and understand that you are committing to pay the entry fees in full.
You can find your closed entries here.
Due to the nature of the competition, we do not refund entries and cannot guarantee a refund for entries submitted by mistake. Failure to pay for a closed entry may result in ineligibility from future One Club for Creativity competitions or the removal of current awards.
We are currently in the early deadline period. Note: entries submitted after March 19, 2027 will be subject to an increased entry fee of $75 USD.
Yes! To learn more go to our 'Subsidies' Page.
Entrants must be 18 or older.
Entrants must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate university program, graduate program, or portfolio program. PhD candidates are not eligible. If you are enrolled in a nontraditional portfolio program or short course, contact education@oneclub.org to confirm your eligibility.
Recent graduates are eligible. Graduation date must be no earlier than March 18, 2026.
Entrants must have less than two years of previous professional experience. Students enrolled in a graduate or portfolio program with more than two years of professional experience in the advertising, marketing, design, or communications industry are not eligible.
Students working at an agency as a copywriter, art director, or other professional position are not eligible. Work created for an internship is ineligible. Work must have been created during your student career—this includes coursework or personal projects.
Students do not have to be members of The One Club for Creativity to participate in the Young Ones Competition.
Teams may apply for the competition. There is no limit on the number of students per team, except in the Client Pitch Competition. All team members should meet the eligibility criteria, excluding faculty advisors.
Team members may be from different schools or programs, but only one school can be listed as the Primary Credit. Additional schools should be listed under “Secondary Credits.”
Important: Primary and Secondary schools will split points in the Global College Rankings.
For the Client Pitch Competition, presenting teams may be no larger than four (4) people.
Yes, but please ensure your professor is credited as a “Professor/Instructor.” Do not credit your professor or instructor as any other type of creative. All creatives credited on the project—including copywriters, creative directors, and illustrators—should be students.
For the ADC, TDC, and Portfolio Competitions, any work created while you were a student is eligible.
For the One Show Brief Competition, work must be created in response to one of the Young Ones 2027 briefs between September 22, 2026, and March 19, 2027.
Work that has previously won at Young Ones is not eligible for resubmission, except as part of a Portfolio. Work that has won at another competition may be entered if the student meets the Young Ones eligibility requirements and entering it complies with the other competition’s rules.
Work previously submitted to Young Ones that did not win may be resubmitted as long as the entrant still meets the eligibility requirements.
Creative generated using AI— including generative AI text, video, sound, or images— must be meaningfully transformed as part of your entry. Generative tools and how they were used should be cited when submitting your project.
The Young Ones Student Awards always permits the use of AI tools for brainstorming and research, as well as productivity and project management tools.
Entries are accepted only through the online entry system. All entry material must be digital. Physical entries are not accepted.
Incomplete entries and entries that do not meet the entry criteria will be disqualified. Once an entry is closed, it becomes subject to judging and payment. By submitting an entry, the entrant commits to paying all associated entry fees in full.
Failure to pay for a closed entry may result in ineligibility from future One Club for Creativity competitions. Due to the nature of the competition, The One Club for Creativity cannot guarantee refunds for entries that have been closed and entered into judging.
Students may submit entries into more than one category within each discipline. However, a duplicate entry submitted across multiple categories may receive no more than two (2) top honors within that discipline.
Yes. The decisions of the Young Ones Competition jury are final, including all determinations regarding eligibility.
Even if your card payment was declined, your entries may still have been submitted. Confirmation can be found on the Invoices page in your account.
Do not recreate the entries and attempt to check out again. This may create duplicate entries and invoices.
Each category has its own set of media allowed for submission. Please note that not all categories accept every type of media.
You must upload digital files for all entries. Each media type has specific technical requirements, as outlined below.
Reference Media is used by The One Club team for promotions and articles when judging media—such as videos and websites—cannot be used in its entirety. Reference Media often includes screenshots, single frames, or alternate angles that represent your project. Reference Media may be made public, but will not be judged.
Reference the chart below to see which parts of an entry will be locked and when. Entries enter the “Processing” stage after the Spring Semester Deadline on March 12, 2027. Any entry closed after March 12 will automatically enter Processing. Contact education@oneclub.org to ask whether changes can still be made.
| ENTRY CREATION | PROCESSING | WINNER PROCESS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft / Open Entries |
Submitted / Closed Entries |
Prepared for Judging |
Finalist Entry To Confirm |
Finalist Entry Confirmed |
|
| Entry Details | unlocked | locked | locked | locked | locked |
| Media – Judging | unlocked | locked | locked | locked | locked |
| Media – Supporting | unlocked | locked | locked | locked | locked |
| Media – Portfolio | unlocked | locked | locked | locked | locked |
| Media – Reference Images | unlocked | unlocked | locked | locked | locked |
| Media – Archive | n/a | n/a | n/a | unlocked | locked |
| Information | unlocked | unlocked | locked | unlocked | locked |
| Credits | unlocked | unlocked | unlocked | unlocked | locked |
NOTE: The media displayed in the One Club Archive can be confirmed or replaced for Finalist (winning) entries after Finalists are notified.
Students can only enter work that is original and that they have the right or authority to enter and publish.
For the One Show Brief Competition, all entries are provided to the Brief Sponsor for review. Entries submitted to the brief competition become the property of the Brief Sponsor, while The One Club for Creativity retains the right to feature the work in social promotions and its archive.
The One Club for Creativity will act as a liaison so the client can contact students if it decides to publish or produce work entered in the competition.
For the Portfolio, ADC, and TDC Competitions, the student retains ownership of all ideas and materials or images uploaded to the website.
The One Club for Creativity reserves the right to remove an entry from the competition for any reason and without notice.
All Finalists will be featured in the Young Ones 2027 Archive and receive an invitation to activate a free one-year membership to The One Club for Creativity.
Each Gold, Silver, or Bronze Winner in the ADC, One Show, TDC, or Portfolio Student Competitions will receive one physical award. The final award designation will be revealed during the Young Ones Ceremony on May 17, 2027.
Complimentary awards will be engraved with the School Name as the primary credit unless the entrant contacts education@oneclub.org with corrections.
Merit Finalists will receive a digital certificate. Merit is a final award designation.
TDC Competition winners will have the opportunity to be included in the TDC Exhibition and TDC Annual.
Winners will be publicly announced in the Young Ones archive and during the Young Ones Ceremony on May 17, 2027.
Contact education@oneclub.org. Our office is open Monday–Friday, 9:30 AM–6:00 PM ET/NYC.
Email response times may be delayed around competition deadlines. Please review the information above before contacting our team.
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