The One Club for Creativity has revealed that entries from 51 countries and regions that have been selected as finalists for The One Show 2026, including 80 from Middle East & Africa.
All finalists will win Gold, Silver, or Bronze Pencils or Merits, to be announced during Creative Week 2026 on May 14, and celebrated at The One Show 2026 awards ceremony on May 15 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
From the Middle East region, IMPACT BBDO has six One Show 2026 selected entries in the finals for AnNahar Newspaper ‘The Untaught History Edition’ as well as for Cheetos’ ‘Cheetos Pants’ and UN Women ‘Child Wedding Cards’ campaigns.
Memac Ogilvy UAE has five selected entries in the final, including four for its ‘Phone Sleep Collection’ campaign for IKEA Al-Futtaim in the UAE, and one for ‘Affordable Masterpieces’ campaign on behalf of IKEA Alsulaiman in Saudi Arabia.
LEO UAE and Saatchi & Saatchi UAE each have two selected entries in the finals.
VML Riyadh has four entries in the finals, while Horizon FCB Dubai and Landor Dubai each have one selected entry in the finals.
From the Africa region, Ogilvy South Africa Cape Town leads the region with 15 selected entries in the finals, including 13 for its work on “Vaseline Verified” for Vaseline.
Accenture Song South Africa Cape Town has 13 selected entries in the finals, all for “The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix” on behalf of The Philipstown WireCar Foundation.
Giant Films Cape Town has seven selected entries in the finals, including five also for its work on “The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix”.
With six selected entries in the finals are: Joe Public Sandton, including two for Breast Cancer UK “Street Nipples”; and Promise Johannesburg, all for AfriSam “Unwanted Sites”.
CarrefourSAIstanbul has three selected, while TBWA\ Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg has two selected entries i the finals.
Agencies that have one selected entry in the finals include: Edelman Johannesburg, M+C Saatchi Abel Johannesburg, The Odd Number Johannesburg, and VML South Africa Johannesburg.
Middle East & Africa’s 80 finalists count by country is:
- South Africa with 48,
- UAE with 18,
- Saudi Arabia with 7,
- Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with 4 each, and
- Turkey with 3.
Globally, Rethink Toronto has the most finalists in the world with 47. Uncommon Creative Studio London has 34 finalists, followed by Apple Cupertino, FCB Chicago and VML New York with 26 each, Courage Inc. Toronto with 23, Area 23 with 21, and LePubMexico with 20.
This year’s esteemed One Show global jury selected a total of 1,345 finalists from 51 countries and regions. The complete searchable list of finalists for The One Show 2026 is available here.
Creative Week 2026
Now in its 17th year, Creative Week is a premier annual gathering for the advertising and design industries to come together and celebrate the creative excellence showcased in The One Club’s leading global awards shows: The One Show, ADC 105th Annual Awards, and Young Ones Student Awards.
This year’s One Show ceremony on May 15 includes announcement of special awards such as Best of Show and Best of Discipline, the inaugural One Show Members Choice Award, as voted from among this year’s top winners by The One Club membership, and 2026 Creative Hall of Fame inductees.
Other Creative Week 2026 programming includes The One Club AI Creative Challenge, exclusive Executive Creative Summit 2026, Client Pitch Competition, in person and virtual Portfolio Reviews, Type Directors Club TDC Lettering Walk, and informative daily Morning Buzz panels.
