Categories | Special Awards | Fusion Pencil / The One Show 2027

About the Award

Once considered a long-term business goal, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become an important, proven core strategy for many of today's successful businesses and organizations. Studies show when a business makes DEI a priority, every facet of the organization benefits, including the bottom line.

In response to what we hear from the industry, and in keeping with our core strengths as a nonprofit organization that exists to support and celebrate the global creative community, The One Club introduced The One Show Fusion Pencil.

With the goal of promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in both agency/production company staffing and in the work itself, the Fusion Pencil will identify and celebrate great work which also includes underrepresented groups and DEI issues both:

Behind the scenes, in terms of diverse agency/production company teams, ensuring equal opportunity, pay and treatment, etc.
In the creative work itself, as expressed through casting, language, script, narrative and how the work communicates authentically with the target audience.

The Fusion Pencil will recognize work based on three criteria:

The work must first meet The One Show's standards for excellence in creativity of ideas and quality of execution.
Awarded work will demonstrate that issues of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (i.e., racial and ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ageism, cognitive or physical abilities, positive body image, all kinds of discrimination, negative stereotypes, etc.), in any way those might manifest in the specific market for which the work is made, have been seriously considered and implemented in the work.
Entrants must disclose how they have implemented DEI principles when forming the teams involved in the work both:

Behind the scenes – what percentage of the agency and production company teams directly involved in the work are part of underrepresented groups (i.e., women and other marginalized genders, racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ+, and people with cognitive or physical differences).

AND

Public-facing (In front of the camera) – how the work communicates authentically with the target audience through casting, language, script, and narrative/storytelling.

This award also encourages brands to use these criteria as a framework for making their own marketing more diverse. It can serve as a global benchmark, representing a new way for brands to demand accountability from their agencies and partners for providing greater diversity in their work and creative teams.

ELIGIBILITY: January 1, 2026 – March 5, 2027

Entering Fusion Pencil

Who should enter?

Inclusive Creative Teams
Agencies, studios, brands, and production partners embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in both the work and its creation.

Community Collaborators
Creators and organizations bringing lived experience, cultural knowledge, and meaningful creative influence to representations of underrepresented groups.

Entrants of all types are welcome with work that combines creative excellence and authentic inclusion.

Entry Tips

Show who shaped the work as well as who appears in it. Explain how people from the represented communities influenced the idea, decisions, and production process.

Include the creative execution and evidence of its relevance or effect. Help judges see how inclusion is embedded in the team and approach, with specific contributions and context rather than a statement of intent alone.

History

Past Press

Adweek
Adweek

Press Release
Press Release

PAST WINNERS

See who has taken home this honor since its launch.

2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021

Good to Know

Fees

The One Show continually strives to be equitable and continues to offer currency value adjustments for specific countries and regions to account for an unfair disadvantage from the value of their local currency in comparison to the US Dollar. Learn more.

Reduced fees are offered to approved Independent companies with less than four offices globally. Learn more about entering as an Indie.

One Show Categories

Fusion Pencil work can also be entered into other One Show categories.

Each discipline is reviewed by a set of specialized judges, focusing on the specific characteristics and challenges highlighted by work in that discipline.

All One Show Categories
One Show Fees

Reviewed by Experts

The Jury

These entries will be reviewed by a jury of experts at the top of their field to determine the best Discipline! work of the past year.

Round 1: January – March
Round 2: late March
Discussion Round: early April

Learn more about judging and result announcement dates.

Meet the President

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[basic info, links to profile overlay]

Enter Fusion Pencil

FP_01
Fusion Pencil
Advance Deadline Fee: $500.00

The Fusion Pencil honors work that meets the highest standards of creative excellence while advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). It recognizes ideas that authentically reflect underrepresented groups in their content, and the teams whose makeup and process embody those same values.

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