It’s been another impressive year of wins for DEPT® with 3 Webby Awards, 13 People’s Voice awards, 5 honourees, and 20 nominations in total for our work with brands including NVIDIA, Strava, Google, Ricola, and Just Eat.

The Webby Awards are one of the internet’s highest honours, with winners chosen by an esteemed jury and millions of votes cast by the digital public. 

Across 100+ categories reflecting excellence in eight major media types—including AI, Immersive & Games, and Creator content—we’re honoured that work by DEPT®, BASIC/DEPT®, HELLO MONDAY/DEPT®, and DOGSTUDIO/DEPT® has been recognised as exceptional, demonstrating how we continue to set the standard for future-forward tech and marketing. 

NVIDIA & American Society for Deaf Children: Signs
HELLO MONDAY/DEPT®

• Webby Award: Websites and Mobile Site – Responsible Innovation
• People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites – Technical Achievement
• People’s Voice Award: AI, Immersive & Games – Experimental & Innovation
• People’s Voice Award: AI, Immersive & Games – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Signs empowers users to learn American Sign Language (ASL) while also crowdsourcing a growing dataset of ASL video content to expand accessibility and understanding. Signs offers an interactive platform where those new to ASL can receive real-time feedback from an AI-driven 3D avatar, while experienced signers can contribute their skills to a dynamic, community-powered dataset.

Strava: A year in sport
HELLO MONDAY/DEPT®
Webby Award & People’s Voice Award: Apps & Software – Best Visual Design – Aesthetic

Athletes all over the world look forward to Strava’s Year in Sport campaign, an in-app experience tailored so that each Strava Athlete (user) can visualise their training activities and stats from 2023. By combining clever animations with striking visuals, we created an engaging and entertaining story for each athlete. Every sprint, jump, race, and victory dance comes alive in a burst of electrifying colour, emphasising everything you’ve accomplished while continually looking to break your own personal bests.

Google Store
BASIC/DEPT®
People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites – Best Practices
People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites- Best Mobile Visual Design – Function

Since 2017, our team has worked closely with the Google Hardware team to launch new products and help turn store.google.com into a world-class brand and e-commerce destination. We’ve contributed end-to-end services, ranging from e-commerce strategy and experience design to art direction, content creation, and campaign development.


Ricola
People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites – Best Navigation/Structure 

For nearly 100 years, Ricola has brought the delight of Swiss Alpine herbs to people around the world. We helped develop a new website that was flexible enough to accommodate the specifics of different markets, was e-commerce ready to future-proof Ricola’s business requirement and direct-to-consumer strategies, and served as a storytelling hub to support Ricola’s global brand identity: the Mighty Alpine Spirit.

Grill’d 
People’s Voice Award: Apps & Software – Best User Interface

In creating the new iOS/Android app for Australia’s favourite burger brand, we recognised the necessity of marrying two priorities: a seamless customer journey for new guests and for Grill’d loyalty members. And we needed to weave the Grill’d core ethos of conscious consumption throughout the entire user journey, giving customers reasons greater than a burger to order Grill’d regularly.

Just Eat & Netflix: “Green lighting the Squid Game partnership”
People’s Voice Award: AI, Immersive & Games – Best Community Engagement

The 360 campaign we created for an iconic collab with Just Eat, Netflix, and Squid Game included ELIMINATE, a digital game we created in house that combines facial detection with the latest motion tracking technology inspired by the show grabbed fans attention and led to over 650,000 sessions of the game.

Kali Healthcare
People’s Voice Award: Apps & Software – Experimental & Innovation

We helped Kali develop a groundbreaking wearable AI-powered platform for safe and accurate pregnancy monitoring. The Kali technology comprises a small wearable device, a smartphone application, and a web portal. It is simple to use and opens the possibility of monitoring at home during telehealth consults, empowering both clinicians and expecting parents.

Sesame Workshop: Sesame Grief Project
HELLO MONDAY/DEPT®
People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites- Education

Grieving is hard for everyone. We helped Sesame Workshop create an experience that helps parents and caregivers process and talk about grief and death with young children in an open, honest, and age-appropriate way.

DEMO Festival: Design in Motion Festival
STUDIO DUMBAR/DEPT®
People’s Voice Award: Websites and Mobile Sites – Events

As the world’s largest motion design event, DEMO Festival provides a platform for both emerging design talent and established creators. The 2025 Cities Edition marked its international debut, with 15 cities in seven countries participating in this exciting event. 

For 24H on January 30, large digital screens across these cities—usually displaying advertisements—were transformed into spectacular art installations showcasing work from over 350 designers from 52 countries.

In addition to the winners, kudos to our clients who were named as honourees or nominees: Gucci Ancora, Instagram, Mammut, Pride & Seek, Zipline, Bol, Twitch, and WHOOP.

Huge congratulations to our winning clients and teams, and thank you to the Webby judges and all those who voted for us.

Our shortlisted projects also include the results of our collaboration with NVIDIA and the ASDC, Signs, which uses AI and ML to foster ASL learning and community engagement, as well as DEMO Festival, the worldwide 24H event created by STUDIO DUMBAR/DEPT® to celebrate motion design and the talented creators behind it.

The Webby Awards is regarded as the Internet’s most respected symbol of success. Thousands of worthy projects are entered every year from over 70 countries around the world.

Out of every category, two winners are selected: The first by a jury of industry experts from The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) and the second by the digital public, who cast their ballots for the People’s Voice Winners through an online vote.

This year, nominations for DEPT®, BASIC/DEPT®, Hello Monday/DEPT®, STUDIO DUMBAR/DEPT®, and DOGSTUDIO/DEPT® span categories including “Experimental & Innovation,” “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging,” and “Responsible Innovation.”

We’re incredibly honoured to see so many projects shortlisted, and we couldn’t have done it without the trust and hard work of our clients: Bol, Twitch, Strava, Grill’d, Kali Healthcare, Doordash, Sesame, Ricola, Google, Just Eat Takeaway & Netflix, NVIDIA & the American Society for Deaf Children, Docusign, and Gucci.

Voting polls are now open to the public until Thursday, April 17th, with winners set to be announced later in the month.

Please cast your votes for your favourite nominees via the links below:

NVIDIA & ASDC: “Signs”
Experimental & Innovation
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Responsible Innovation
Technical Achievement

Just Eat & Netflix: “Green lighting the Squid Game partnership”
Best Community Engagement

Google Store
Best Practices
Best Mobile Visual Design – Function

Bol: “Packing up Christmas Early”
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

Twitch: “TWITH: A spelling mistake takeover”
Real Time Response Campaign

Strava: “A year in sport”
Best Visual Design – Aesthetic

Grill’d
Best User Interface

Kali Healthcare
Experimental & Innovation

Doordash: “Your door to Mom’s heart”
Kids & Family
Best Use of Stories

Sesame: “Sesame Grief Project”
Education

Ricola
Best Navigation/Structure

Google: “Google IO’s Demos”
Entertainment

Design in Motion (DEMO) Festival
Events & Live streams/Animation

Docusign
Business Blog/Website

Gucci: Gucci Ancora
Best Mobile User Interface

Congrats to all of our amazing clients and talented teams up for a win, and thank you for voting!

These awards, created by the Webby Awards, recognise purpose- and mission-driven work across industries, highlighting projects that utilise creativity and technology to drive positive change worldwide.

This year’s recognition spans categories including Sustainability, Community Engagement, Health, and Responsible Technology, celebrating projects from DEPT® and our partner studios that merge innovation with impact.

Our shortlisted projects include:

• Talking Portraits: An interactive experience that brings characters to life through AI innovation.
• Trainline “Get Your Bum On Board:” A cheeky campaign inspiring eco-conscious travel and behavior change.
• Otrium Ovatars: A sustainable fashion initiative that uses AI-powered digital avatars to sell last season’s fashion items.
• Nyiyaparli Widi: An immersive gaming experience that keeps the Aboriginal Nyiyaparli Language alive.
• Signs: An AI-powered platform for learning sign language.
• ARtefact Adventures Barbados: Reclaiming Heritage Through Play: A gamified exploration that reconnects communities with their cultural roots.

Each project demonstrates how purpose-led creativity can inspire collective action and spark meaningful progress, all of which are values at the heart of DEPT®’s global mission.

Public voting for the Anthem Community Voice Awards is now open through Thursday, October 30, 2025.

Show your support by casting your vote for your favourite DEPT® projects below:

Talking Portraits:
Education, Art & Culture – Best Use of AI
Education, Art & Culture – Innovation

Trainline, Get Your Bum On Board:
Sustainability, Environment, Climate – Social Media Content, Campaign or Channel
Sustainability, Environment & Climate – Campaign: Brand
Sustainability, Environment & Climate – Short Form Video
Sustainability, Environment & Climate – Local Awareness Campaign

Otrium Ovatars:
Sustainability, Environment & Climate – Business Strategy
Sustainability, Environment & Climate – Innovation
Responsible Technology – Best Use of Technology

Nyiyaparli Widi:
Education, Art & Culture – Local Awareness Campaign
Education, Art & Culture – Digital & Innovative Experiences
Education, Art & Culture – Local Community Engagement
Education, Art & Culture – Special Projects
Education, Art & Culture – Education or Literacy Platform

Signs:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging – Best Use of AI
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging – Education or Literacy Program or Platform
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging – Partnership or Collaboration
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging – Education or Literacy Program or Platform
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging – Best Use of Technology
Responsible Technology – Partnership or Collaboration
Responsible Technology – Best Use of AI

ARtefact Adventures Barbados:
Education, Art & Culture – Digital & Innovative Experiences
Education, Art & Culture – Public Service
Education, Art & Culture – Community Space
Education, Art & Culture – Education or Literacy Platform

Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny:
Education, Art & Culture – Public Service
Education, Art & Culture – Community Engagement
Education, Art & Culture – Education or Literacy Platform

We’re incredibly proud of our teams and clients for continuing to push boundaries and build work that matters. Congratulations to everyone involved, and thank you for voting!

Hometeam by ReflexAI
Hello Monday/DEPT®
Special Projects: Health
Community Outreach: Health
Best Use of AI: Health
Public Service: Health

While 92% of veterans are open to supporting or being supported by another veteran when they’re in crisis, only 25% are prepared to do so. By blending human storytelling with ethically applied AI, we were proud to partner with the Google.org Fellowship & Reflex AI’s HomeTeam to raise awareness and educate veterans on life-saving techniques for mental health crises. 

Sumthing: Building the platform for nature’s comeback story
Special Projects: Sustainability, Environment & Climate
Partnership or Collaboration: Sustainability, Environment & Climate

Recognising the importance of restoration, both as a Certified B Corp and in light of recent sustainability regulations, we joined forces with Sumthing to elevate their digital presence and to build a new and future-proof donor platform where donors can track the progress and impact of their contribution in real-time.

Jigsaw: Info Interventions
Hello Monday/DEPT®
Global Awareness Campaign: Responsible Technology
Innovation: Responsible Technology
Best Use of Technology: Responsible

Jigsaw is a unit within Google that researches threats to open societies and builds technology, products, and tangible methods that inspire scalable solutions. Info Interventions is a collection of four experiments specifically created to help people build information resilience at critical moments in their online journey.Together, our campaign reached 3.5M users of our target audience while helping to drive efficient awareness and traffic to this important initiative.

Kali Healthcare: Revolutionising pregnancy monitoring
Best Use of Technology: Health
Anthem Community Voice Winner

UNICEF estimates that about two million babies are stillborn every year: A high number that could be prevented with better monitoring and access to obstetric care.
To create a more accessible, convenient, and reliable pregnancy monitoring solution, Australian start-up Kali Healthcare approached DEPT® to help develop a groundbreaking wearable AI-powered platform for safe and accurate pregnancy monitoring.

Bol: The Store of Christmas makers
Film, Video, Television or Show: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We helped Dutch online store Bol represent those who experience and celebrate the holidays differently with a campaign that created a nation wide conversation with its message: Make Christmas what you want it to be.

Johnnie Walker: Footsteps of Progress 
Branded Content or Collaboration: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
National Awareness Campaign: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Campaign – Brand: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We brought unseen stories to light on and offline, with footsteps leading to an AR experience that became a force for female empowerment in Eastern Europe. As a brand that’s all about progress, we worked with Johnnie Walker to kickstart a much-needed conversation through influencers and in the media. And then we went one step ahead: creating a shoe as a symbol of collective progress, inspiring women to proudly step up for change, tear up limitations and change the narrative on equality.

Sesame Workshop: Growing as We Grieve
Hello Monday/DEPT® 
Education or Literacy Program or Platform: Health
Special Projects: Health
Community Outreach: Health

Grieving is hard for everyone. We helped Sesame Workshop create an experience that helps parents and caregivers process and talk about grief and death with young children openly, honestly, and age-appropriately.

Undo the Firewall: Bring Independent News to Russians in News & Journalism
News & Journalism: Responsible Technology
Special Projects: Responsible Technology

With the World Economic Forum declaring “Misinformation” as the #1 global threat for 2024, we worked with The True Story to launch Undo the Firewall. Undo the Firewall provides a simple yet powerful tool for websites worldwide to host uncensored news stories about Russia. The initiative seeks to break through digital barriers and ensure access to unfiltered information for Russian citizens.