South Africa tallies 7 Young Ones merits this year

Work from Stellenbosch Academy of Design & Photography / Stellenbosch. The 'eracism' app. Source: The One Show.

Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography was a standout institution with six student merit awards across a number of categories. Red and Yellow Creative School of Business walked away with one merit award in the Illustration: Print category.

The One Club said in a statement that students/institutions from 39 countries entered the competition.

“Based on cumulative points for all awards won by a school’s students in this year’s competition, School of Visual Arts (SVA)New York was crowned 2026 Young Ones School of the Year. Overall, SVA collected two Golds, seven Silver, nine Bronze, 47 Merits, and four Portfolio wins.

"Rounding out the top-five ranked schools, in order, are Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Ludwigsburg, ArtCenter College of Design Pasadena, and Miami Ad School Madrid,” it said in a statement.

Work from Stellenbosch Academy of Design & Photography / Stellenbosch. A re-imaginging of the hit show Fallout intro. Source: One Show.

In memory of industry leader Ari Weiss, who passed away last year, The One Club for Creativity announced the first winner of its new annual Ari Weiss Award, honouring the top scoring student in the Young Ones Portfolio competition.

The inaugural recipient of the award is Carlos Mario Rodriguez, a student at ArtCenter College of Design Savannah and Miami Ad School New York.

Weiss, whose storied career included top creative roles at Cliff Freeman and Partners, BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, 180LA, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBH, DDB, and founding of Quality Experience, had a close association with the programme as a Young Ones Pencil winner at The One Show in 2000. His extraordinary talents also led him to win that year’s live creative challenge, where students were tasked with delivering a brief during Creative Week.

Young Ones is one of the world’s most comprehensive and acclaimed competitive showcases for advertising, digital communication, and design students. The programme offers four separate competitions:

• Young Ones ADC, offering students the chance to earn an ADC Cube by competing in many of the same disciplines and categories as the prestigious ADC Annual Awards;
• Young Ones One Show Brief and Client Pitch competitions, which tasks a team of students with creating work for a specific client with the chance to earn a One Show Pencil, with top entrants having the opportunity to pitch the actual client;
• Young Ones Portfolio competition, where students submit 6-15 projects and have it judged as a representation of their entire body of work by industry professionals;
• Young Ones TDC, where student entries in typography, lettering, and type design can win Type-High awards, or Merits from the Type Directors Club, part of The One Club for Creativity.

The Young Ones 2026 Student Awards is the first event of Creative Week 2026, taking place 11 to 15 May in New York.