Creative Circle Gets Bold New Look for 80th Anniversary

The Creative Circle, Europe’s longest running creative awards body proudly marks its 80th anniversary this year. To celebrate this extraordinary milestone, the Circle has unveiled a striking new visual identity, developed by the renowned team at Droga5 London, part of Accenture Song and launched a host of initiatives to energise the UK’s creative community.

The new brand reflects the Creative Circle’s rebellious, expressive spirit. It’s accompanied by the launch of an interactive image creation tool, developed by MATA in collaboration with Droga5 – a cutting-edge app allowing the 80th anniversary judges to generate and share personalised profile images across social media—bringing a fresh sense of identity and connection to this year's awards process.

The Creative Circle has always been the punk of the UK awards scene,” said Dan Roberts, design director at Droga5 London, part of Accenture Song. “We built an identity based on the idea that creativity is embedded in the DNA of UK talent—raw, rebellious, and instinctive. Circles became our metaphor for that DNA, from the macro to the micro. Everything, from the custom typeface to the irreverent voice, is designed to reflect that spirit.”

Creative Town Hall: New Initiative to Unite the Industry

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Creative Circle, in partnership with Global Media, has launched the Creative Town Hall (CTH)—a nationwide series of events, designed to unite creatives at every level of the industry. Open to everyone from juniors to C-suite leaders, these events will create space for meaningful dialogue and fresh thinking, free from agendas or gatekeeping.

“Embrace Crazy” at Havas HQ, was the first in the series of themed events across the UK and will be followed by a special gathering at the UK Creative Festival in Margate this July, “Get Savvy”, featuring Uncommon Creative Studio’s Founder, Nils Leonard.

Record-Breaking Awards and a Distinguished Line-Up

This year’s Creative Circle Awards are already shaping up to be the most exciting yet, with a record-breaking number of entries. The online and Gold judging rounds are now complete, and the shortlist has been announced.

To honour the 80th year, a stellar line-up of some of the greatest creatives in the industry were invited to inspire the Gold juries, including:

Dave Trott

Ed Morris

Jean-Clement Soret

Paul Franklin

Sam Sneade

Nick Angell

Mark Denton

Peter Souter

Cathy Heng

Neville Brody

Libby Brockhoff

Trevor Robinson

Collectively these trailblazers have earned every accolade from Oscars and BAFTAs to Cannes Lions, D&AD Pencils and of course Creative Circles awards.

80th Anniversary Ceremony in Margate

The celebrations will culminate at the Creative Circle Awards Ceremony on July 10th, held at the iconic Dreamland, Margate, as part of the UK Creative Festival. Returning host Mr Cee will lead festivities, with all shortlisted work featured in the Best of British Creativity Exhibition - one of the highlights of the Festival.

Jeremy Green, CEO, Creative Circle Awards: “We are really excited to be celebrating the Circle’s epic 80th anniversary and have so many exciting plans in the run-up to the actual awards ceremony. We’ve had a record number of entries and a record number of judges registering this year, and Droga5 have given us a new look that captures the essence of what the Creative Circle stands for. We have industry legends offering each Gold jury their inspiration and guidance to what they think makes work worthy of reward. The anniversary reminds us why the Creative Circle was set up in the first place, to celebrate, inspire and educate the UK creative community and I believe we are still doing just that.”