When D&AD invited me to be a juror this year, I don't think they could have fathomed my history and connection with the award. As I sit at my desk in my hotel room on the Southbank, facing the Thames, I can't help but be taken back 28 years to my first encounter with D&AD and the awards.

1997 was my first year in advertising and by some magical beginners' luck, my work had made it into the D&AD Book - the first ever from India. It was a Yellow Pages ad without any copy, it just showed the Gita, Bible, Quran and the Yellow Pages next to each other, and the Yellow Pages was used the most. Those days there were only Yellow Pencils and Black Pencils, no Wood, Graphite, etc. so winning was an even bigger deal. My naive self didn't fully understand the significance of this win, until Mangesh Rane and Parag Tembulkar - who were a creative team at Rediffusion at the time - sent me flowers to my office at Enterprise. You'd imagine that receiving flowers from your seniors was a bigger deal to an inexperienced art director than a recognition from some obscure British award! But it changed my life in many ways. 

First, it opened my eyes to the importance of creative awards. Winning once fuels a competitive spirit that invariably leads to winning again. I started learning more about international awards, and international work and fell in love with British advertising. That's what led me to choose a job in London over one in New York and I still look at my days in London as my golden period of quality advertising. Funnily, my first year in London also has an interesting D&AD story attached to it. That year my agency Lowe Howard Spink had done a campaign for Stella Artois - showing really expensive items spoiled because someone used their edges to open a Stella Bottle. Items like a vintage bike, a piece of art, an iconic chair, etc. All doing justice to the brand's tagline, 'Reassuringly Expensive'. The campaign won a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, but nothing at D&AD. That's how crazy tough this award is. Lowe also had a great comeback though - they released an ad showing the D&AD Pencil itself chipped on the side, as someone used it to open the Stella Artois bottle.  

Over the years though, I started feeling that just like other award shows, D&AD was losing its sheen. I had cracked a kind of code to winning awards and it led to a dozen-odd pencils for Gillette, Museum of Sex, Got Milk, Light of Life Foundation, Unilever, etc. Last year when my agency Famous Innovations won a Wood Pencil, I can frankly say that I didn't think as highly of it as I did of the win in 1997. But coming here as a judge this year has opened my eyes once again. The judging this year is brutal, to say the least. Out of 600 odd entries in 'Press & Outdoor', we have given less than 10 Pencils and only 1 Yellow Pencil (I think so but I can't say for sure, the result is tomorrow). Even my work from this year did not win, and I am glad for that. Because the standard of the work that is winning is sky-high. This is not like Cannes judging. There is no quota to fill. The jury is fighting for excellence, there are no clients in the jury, only creatives and D&AD should pride itself on its uniqueness. Looking back, I should have taken more pride in winning the Wood Pencil. 

Above and beyond all this, the real proof of the pudding for me is that D&AD is a non-profit organisation run by the industry, not by individual owners. So there's no agenda to make money. With the money that they are making out of the award show, they are investing back into the industry, particularly for young talent through various initiatives. They released their entire company accounts to the public, so anyone could see it's not a money-making business. And they are paying for flights, hotel and food for judges. I think this is a true breath of fresh air among the sea of hundreds of awards where everybody wins. Here, hundreds of people are NOT winning the award, and that's what matters. 

As I head out for a walk on the Southbank along the Thames, which is quite like the Croisette, except it has English beer and hotdogs instead of croissants, I'm thinking back to Sir Martin Sorell's suggestion to Cannes Lions a few years ago. To optimise costs, he had asked them to move the festival to London. It's a good thing they didn't because of the way D&AD is going, if Cannes Lions had dropped the 'Cannes' from their name and moved to London, I don't think they'd survive. D&AD is now not just a British show, it's a global show, pushing the bar to the roof, and if the world pays attention, it's in for an eye opener, just like I was, once in 1997 and once today. 

On a side note, what D&AD also gave me was an opportunity to 'bump into' with my one-time 'superboss' Tim Lindsay. I worked with him at Lowe Harvard Spink. As a senior ranks officer, he always walked in with his bicycle in hand with a certain amount of style and swag. He's the CEO at D&AD and I saw him yesterday after 25 years. He looked as charming as ever. He invited me to be part of the jury and I'd like to thank him.

Signing off, 
Raj Kamble.

The author is founder and chief creative officer, Famous Innovations.