20th AC Japan Advertising Student Awards Ceremony Held

AC Japan held the award ceremony for the 20th "AC Japan Advertising Student Award" on Wednesday, March 27, at Scramble Hall in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.

This award solicits and honors advertising works themed around public service announcements (PSAs) from students, aiming to foster understanding of public service advertising and cultivate a sense of civic responsibility. Entries were accepted in two categories: "TV Commercial Category" (30-second TV commercials) and "Newspaper Advertisement Category" (15-column newspaper ads). This year, the TV Commercial Category received 266 entries from 38 participating schools, while the Newspaper Advertisement Category received 590 entries from 34 participating schools.

Judging focused on criteria such as "whether the work is outstanding as public service advertising and sparks interest or awareness in people" and "whether it possesses the unique sensibility of students and ideas/themes brimming with originality." Grand Prizes, Runner-up Prizes, and Special Jury Awards were selected for both divisions.

AC Japan Executive Director Hiroshi Miyanaga presenting awards to winners

In the TV Commercial category, the Grand Prize was awarded to "Recruitment Guidelines" (Nihon University College of Art, Lead Producer: Yoshino Iwakawa), themed around "Diversity in Job Hunting and Related Activities." It expressed the contradiction and discomfort found in modern times, where awareness of diversity is growing, yet phrases like "must be physically and mentally healthy" still appear in school and company recruitment guidelines.

CM Category Grand Prix "Recruitment Guidelines"

The Runner-up Grand Prix and BS Commercial Broadcasters Award went to "A Child's Perspective" (Sobi Gakuen University, Lead Producer: Haruto Nishikawa), themed around "Parent-Child Communication." It depicted the lack of communication between parents and children using a primary school student's independent research project as its subject.

CM Category Runner-up Grand Prix BS Commercial Broadcasters Award "A Child's Perspective"

In the Newspaper Advertising category, the Grand Prize was awarded to "Invisible? That's Dangerous." (Nippon Electronics College, Lead Producer: Takumi Kitamura), themed around "walking while using a smartphone." It expressed how walking while using a smartphone limits one's field of vision by splitting the kanji for "pitfall" (落とし穴) into left and right halves, making it difficult to see.

Newspaper Advertising Category Grand Prize "Out of Sight, Out of Mind."

The Runner-up Grand Prize went to "Imagine Each Story" (Kyoto Seika University, Lead Creator: Watanabe Kazu), themed around "Consideration." It expressed how using imagination about others leads to consideration.

Newspaper Advertising Category Runner-up: "Imagine Each Person's Story."

The two TV commercial entries (30 seconds) will be broadcast on 11 BS commercial stations, and the two newspaper ad entries (15 columns total) will be published in five national newspapers. Each will be featured as an "AC Japan Student Advertising Award Winner" and is scheduled to be broadcast or published over the course of one year starting in July.