Celebration time for Charlie Bulmer as he wins prestigious D&AD Award
A student from Malton has received an international design award in recognition of his talents.
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) advertising student Charlie Bulmer has been awarded a prestigious Design and Art Direction (D&AD) New Blood Award for his work after responding to a design brief set by the British Army.
The D&AD Awards are known globally in the design industry as a way of highlighting outstanding work with the New Blood prizes specifically for fresh talent from around the world. Charlie is one of 11 winners in his category chosen from hundreds of entries after the British Army asked for new ways to position the organisation as an attractive career choice.
"It’s a fantastic way to end my time at University in Preston and to be awarded a D&AD Award is invaluable when you’re looking for a job in a very competitive industry."
He said: “As soon as I found out I’d won I rang my mum and dad as I knew they’d be so pleased. It’s a fantastic way to end my time at University in Preston and to be awarded a D&AD Award is invaluable when you’re looking for a job in a very competitive industry.”
Charlie chose the Army challenge, out of a possible 16 industry briefs available in the New Blood Awards, because he felt it would allow him to test his ability as a copywriter.
For the competition Charlie created a series of posters, each with a different fictitious story sharing a person’s experience of being in the Army. Phrases such as ‘the glass ceiling shattered’ and ‘I had to come out’ are stereotypically associated with gender barriers and sexuality but in this case they are in fact part of an experience of a member of the British Army, pulled out of the stories to initially mislead readers.
"My campaign preys on that flaw to suggest one story when in fact they are about something completely different."
The 25-year-old former Malton Secondary School and Sixth Form pupil commented: “It’s called ‘Fighting conceptions’ and is inspired by the assumptions we make about people based on their identity. We make the same assumptions within our language, forming stories in our head based on the connotations of what we have read. My campaign preys on that flaw to suggest one story when in fact they are about something completely different."
Charlie will now head to the awards presentation evening in London in July where he will be handed a coveted D&AD Pencil Award in honour of his achievements. To learn more about his award visit https://www.dandad.org/awards/new-blood/2017/the-british-army/3089/fighting-conceptions/
Charlie’s work is on display at UCLan’s Preston Campus from 9-16 June as part of the Lancashire Arts Festival Degree Show.