The One Club Global Next Creative Leaders 2025 entries open

The One Club for Creativity has opened the call for entries for the 10th annual Next Creative Leaders 2025, a free global competition recognising women, non-binary, and trans creatives on the rise (Image supplied)

Bizcommuntiy is proud to be the exclusive media partner in South Africa to the One CLub Global Next Creative Leaders 2025.

Next Creative Leaders (NCL), established jointly with The 3% Movement, is the industry’s only free portfolio competition that identifies, celebrates, and provides a global platform to talented women, non-binary, and trans creatives who are making their mark on the world with both their work and unique point of view on creative leadership that’s changing the industry for the better.

NCL is also an example of how The One Club, the world’s foremost nonprofit organisation whose mission is to support the global creative community, looks to improve the industry and remove barriers to entry and advancement by providing this free-to-enter recognition programme.

Eligible participants are those who are stepping into leadership roles, including copywriters, art directors, designers, ACDs, content creators, and recently promoted creative and design directors with less than one year in the role, and creative teams who are doing game-changing work.

Entries highlighting a candidate’s creativity, leadership, and unique point of view must be submitted by 16 June 2025.

To make Next Creative Leaders as open and accessible as possible, there is no fee to enter.

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Pushing the industry forward

Entrants are judged on four to six pieces of creative work and information about how they — and their work — are pushing the industry forward and making a positive contribution in terms of diversity, mentoring, and advocacy.

Submissions will be reviewed by a jury of more than 70 top creatives from around the world, including past NCL winners, to be announced shortly.

This year’s winners will be announced in late August 2025.

Along with naming global winners based on the highest jury scores, the competition also recognises regional winners in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East/Africa, and North America.

An archive of past NCL winners, sorted by year, can be viewed here.

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One Club membership

Each NCL winner receives a one-year complimentary individual membership with The One Club, with opportunities to serve on juries for one of The One Club’s awards programs, and receive a complimentary ticket to a One Club professional development conference ($1,000+ value), panels, and mentorship events.

Winners also have their work showcased on The One Club website and social channels, covered by media partners, and have potential opportunities to speak at NCL events.

Inclusion and diversity

“The One Club created its own inclusion and diversity department nearly 20 years ago and has steadily increased programming around gender equity in the workplace,” says Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club.

“Next Creative Leaders is an important part of our programming because it identifies, elevates, and gives voice to those who are making a real difference, those who are opening the door and inspiring the next generation of creatives who follow in their footsteps.”

Branding for Next Creative Leaders 2025 was designed by Du Nieto (he/they), an NCL 2021 winner who serves as lead designer at Revolut, an independent creative at dadada.work, originally from Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil, and now based in London.

Font for the branding – Romie Light Italic – was donated by Margot Lévêque Studio, based in New York.