competition info

This page contains important information about entering the Young Ones competition. We recommend you read this page in its entirety before submitting an entry.

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Eligibility Deadlines & Entry Fees Entry Process Payment Ownership & Usage Rights Awards & Honors Media Contact Us

eligibility

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 part of a non-traditional portfolio program or short-course, please reach out to education@oneclub.org to confirm your eligibility.

Recent graduates are eligible. Graduation date must be no earlier than March 15, 2024.

Entrants must not have more 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 a member of The One Club for Creativity in order to participate in the Young Ones Competition.


team information

Teams may apply for the competition. There is no limit on the number of students per team. All team members should meet the above criteria (excluding any 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.


deadlines & entry fees

The Young Ones competition has three deadlines for submission. The entry fee increases after each deadline.

Finalists will be notified in April 2025. Winners will be publicly announced at the Young Ones Awards Show on May 12, 2025.


country specific pricing adjustments

In order to make Young Ones more accessible for international entrants, automatic discounts will be applied to entries from specific countries and regions to account for an unfair disadvantage from the value of their local currency in comparison to the US Dollar.

This reduction of entry fees will be automatically applied during checkout. This fee adjustment does not apply to processing fees.

Members of The One Club for Creativity receive 10% discounts on Early and Regular Entry period submissions. If you have questions about fees, please reach out to: education@oneclub.org

Group A
Egypt
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
South Africa
Ukraine
Vietnam

Early Deadline: $30
Regular Deadline: $40
Extended Deadline: $50
Group B
Argentina
Azerbaijan
Brazil
Colombia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Guatemala
Hungary
Mexico
Moldova
Nicaragua
Oman
Peru
Romania
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Turkey
Venezuela

Early Deadline: $35
Regular Deadline: $45
Extended Deadline: $55
Group C
All Other Countries Eligible for Young Ones

Early Deadline: $45
Regular Deadline: $55
Extended Deadline: $65


entry process & regulations

Entries are accepted only through the online entry system. All entry material must be digital. No physical entries.

Incomplete entries and those that do not meet entry criteria will be disqualified. Once you have closed your entry, it will be subject to judging and payment. You can find your closed entries here. By submitting entries into the competition, entrants are committing to pay for all entry fees in full.

IMPORTANT: Failure to pay for a closed entry may result in your ineligibility from future One Club for Creativity competitions. Due to the nature of the competition, The One Club for Creativity cannot provide refunds for entries which have been closed and entered into judging.

Students can submit entries into more than one category in each discipline (ADC, TDC, One Show/Brief, and Portfolio); however, duplicate entries in multiple categories will only be awarded up to two (2) top honors across the discipline.

The decisions of the Young Ones Competition Judges are final, including determinations as to eligibility.



payment

The Young Ones Student Competition offers three options for payment and multiple payment methods. Please note the following regarding payments:

online credit card issues

Even if your card payment was declined, it is likely that your entries have been submitted. Confirmation can be found on the Invoices page in your account. As a reminder, failure to pay for your submitted entry may result in ineligibility from all One Club Competitions going forward.
NOTE: DO NOT re-create the entries in your account and attempt to check out again. This will result in duplicate entries and invoices.

You can take the following steps to resolve the payment issue:
Option A

Students register and pay for their own entries. When proceeding to checkout to submit entries, select one of the following:

  • ONLINE CREDIT CARD
    Select this option and pay online using a credit card.
  • ALIPAY
    Select this option and pay online via the app.
  • WECHAT PAY
    Select this option and pay online via the app.
  • CHECK / ACH (U.S. entrants)
    Select this option and send in the a copy of the invoice with the check.
  • WIRE TRANSFER (Non-U.S. entrants)
    Select this option and arrange the transfer. Account details will be given during the payment process.
Option B

Students register the entries and the school pays for the submission.

  • PAYMENT CODE
    With this method of entry, a customized Payment Code can be created for schools and classes. Students can use this code to enter their own work under their own student account, and then when the school administrator is ready, the code can be turned on and one invoice will be generated for all of the student entries.
  • CHECK
    Students can select the Check option when submitting their entries. The school then collects the invoices from all students and sends them in with the total payment.
Option C

The school registers and pays for their students' submissions. When proceeding to checkout to submit entries, select one of the following:

  • ONLINE CREDIT CARD
    Select this option and pay online using a credit card.
  • ALIPAY
    Select this option and pay online via the app.
  • WECHAT PAY
    Select this option and pay online via the app.
  • CHECK / ACH (U.S. entrants)
    Select this option and send in the a copy of the invoice with the check.
  • WIRE TRANSFER (Non-U.S. entrants)
    Select this option and arrange the transfer. Account details will be given during the payment process.


ownership & usage rights

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 given to the Brief Sponsor for review. The entries submitted to the brief competition become the property of the Brief Sponsor, while The One Club for Creativity retains the rights to feature the work in social promotions and in our archive. The One Club for Creativity will act as a liaison to ensure that the client will contact the students if they decide to publish or produce any work entered in this competition.

For the Portfolio Competition, ADC Competition, and TDC Competition, the student retains ownership of all ideas and materials/images uploaded to our website.

The One Club for Creativity reserves the right to remove an entry from the competition for any reason and without notice.


awards & honors

All finalists will receive a one-year One Club Membership and feature in The One Club for Creativity archives.

For the Young Ones Brief Competition, One Show Pencils & Young Ones Digital Merit Certificates will be awarded. One complimentary award will be provided per winning entry.

For the Young Ones ADC Competition, ADC Cubes & Young Ones Digital Merit Certificates will be awarded. One complimentary award will be provided per winning entry.

For the Young Ones Portfolio Competition, Portfolio Trophies will be awarded. One complimentary award will be provided per winning entrant.

For the Young Ones TDC Competition, TDC Certificates will be awarded and winners will be eligible for a cash prize (three top winners selected by the Young Ones Jury will be awarded a cash prize of up to $1000)

IMPORTANT: There are no merits for the Portfolio Competition or the TDC Competition.


submission media

You must upload digital files for ALL entries. This will be required during the online entry process. Each media type has specific technical requirements, as outlined below.


WHAT IS REFERENCE MEDIA?

Reference Media is used by The One Club team for promotions and in our articles when judging media (specifically video pieces, websites, etc.) cannot be used in their entirety. Reference Media are often screenshots, single frames, or alternate angles of your work that represent your project. Reference Media may be made public, but will not be judged.


Images

DIMENSIONS
  • The longest side of each image should be at least 2400 pixels long
  • The longest side of each image must be a maximum of 4800 pixels long

FORMAT
  • Each file must be a high res JPEG or PNG
  • Each file should be RGB color mode
  • Each file must be no larger than 5 MB
Video

ASPECT RATIO / RESOLUTION
  • 1920 x 1080 is preferred and recommended
  • Minimum resolution of 1280 x 720
  • All videos must be submitted in 16x9 format
  • Other aspect ratios will automatically have black pillars added after uploading the video into the online system

FORMAT
  • .mov or .mp4
  • H.264 compression
  • Audio compression must be AAC
  • Each file must be no larger than 200MB

NOTE
  • Do NOT include color bars/tone or slates
  • Case Study/Project Videos should be no longer than 2 minutes.
AUDIO

FORMAT
  • All audio files must be in MP3 format
  • Each file must be no larger than 200MB

NOTE
  • Do NOT include audio slates
URL

FORMAT
  • Landing pages of project information are acceptable.
  • URLs to a video hosted online (i.e., Vimeo, YouTube, etc.) are NOT accepted.
  • Videos must be submitted through online upload.

NOTE
  • URL links entered must remain unchanged through May 2025.
  • Password-protected URLs are NOT recommended, as complicated logins slow down judging.
PDF

FORMAT
  • Images, graphics, and copy should be provided in a single file.
  • Files must be exported at a high resolution image compression.
  • Printers marks should not be included.

NOTE
  • Password-protected PDFs are NOT accepted.


contact us

Can't find the answer to your question? Please contact education@oneclub.org. Our office is open Monday – Friday, 9:30AM – 6PM Eastern Time.

Email response time around deadline dates may be delayed. Please check above to see if your question has already been answered!