Two black pencils at the D&AD last night

The black pencils are back after a two-year hiatus - two were handed out last night at the D&AD awards. 53 D&AD silver awards found new homes as well, in the Art Direction Category all nominees but the colorful iPod campaign got one. Apple was left empty handed.

"Perhaps what separates out the few in this business who deserve to be called great are those who truly break fresh ground, who contribute something new and who, through their agencies, set a tone."
"David Abbott has done this. So too have John Webster, John Hegarty and Tim Delaney. To this list must be added the name of Dave Trott."

Read more to see the lucky Black Pencil winners.

The Ship Of Ideas for the German Tourist Board (Tourismus & Congress Frankfurt am Main) was created at the Design Group Atelier Markgraph by copywriter Martin Pesch and Art Directors Eno Henzo and Andreas Lorenschat. Creative Director is Roland Lambretto, Project manager Jurgen Zeller.

The Fruit And Veg Stamps also won a coveted black pencil, like a Mr-fruit-head but in stamp version you can add mustaches and eyes to your stamps and create your very own version. The Design group was Johnson Banks headed up by Design Director Michael Johnson. Designers on this project were Michael Johnson, Sarah Fullerton and Andrew Ross. The client is Royal Mail.

Let's hope the black pencils are here to stay - all the winners can be viewed at the D&AD website which is excruciatingly slow at the moment, probably because everyone is... ;)