POP5 has made history as the first Bangladeshi agency to win a Pencil at the globally prestigious D&AD Awards, one of the toughest and most respected creative competitions in the world. The agency received a Graphite Pencil, equivalent to a Silver award, for its sustainability initiative “Plot Farming,” created for Shopnodhora.

Founded in 1962, D&AD is widely regarded as one of the highest benchmarks of creative excellence globally, known for an intentionally unforgiving judging process where only a small percentage of work receives recognition. This year’s competition saw entries from a record-breaking 86 countries. According to D&AD’s official shortlist announcement, the 2025 awards received 11,689 entries comprising more than 30,000 individual pieces of work.

From those submissions, only 1,288 works were shortlisted, roughly around 11% of total entries. Even fewer ultimately received Pencils, with international reports stating that only 668 Pencil-winning entries were awarded globally across all levels, including Wood, Graphite, Yellow, White, and Black Pencils.

Against this level of international competition, dominated by some of the world’s largest creative agencies, networks, production companies, and brands, POP5 emerged as one of the few winners globally, marking a major milestone for Bangladesh’s creative industry on the world stage.

The winning work, Plot Farming, was created for Bangladeshi real estate company Shopnodhora. The initiative transformed unused housing plots into productive farmland by reviving Bangladesh’s traditional Borga Chashi sharecropping system, creating a scalable model that connected idle land with landless farmers while addressing issues of food security, sustainable land use, and economic inclusion.