STEFAN SAGMEISTER TO HOST LANDMARK ADC 105TH ANNUAL AWARDS IN NEW YORK

Celebrated designer Stefan Sagmeister will host the ADC 105th Annual Awards in New York on 13 May during Creative Week 2026. The globally respected creative leader brings decades of influence, insight and innovation to one of the industry’s most prestigious events celebrating excellence in advertising and design.

The Art Directors Club, part of The One Club for Creativity, has named renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister as host of the ADC 105th Annual Awards, set to take place on 13 May in New York during Creative Week 2026.

Sagmeister, an Austrian-born creative now based in New York, is widely regarded as one of the most influential designers of his generation. Known for his boundary-pushing approach, his client portfolio spans cultural and commercial heavyweights including The Rolling Stones, HBO and the Guggenheim Museum. A two-time Grammy Award winner, his accolades extend across virtually every major international design honour, including selection in the inaugural ADC Young Guns class in 1996.

Beyond his commercial work, Sagmeister has built a reputation as a compelling public thinker, with talks that explore the intersections of design, happiness and beauty. With five official TED Talks, he remains among the platform’s most frequently invited speakers. His books have sold in the hundreds of thousands, while his exhibitions have drawn global audiences, most notably “The Happy Show”, which attracted more than half a million visitors and became the most visited graphic design exhibition in history.

Announcing the appointment, Brian Collins, president of the Art Directors Club and co-founder of COLLINS, praised Sagmeister as “both a pioneer and an uncommonly visionary leader” within the creative community, adding with characteristic levity that his sartorial flair was an added bonus.

Sagmeister, in turn, reflected on the enduring relevance of the awards, describing the ADC as proof that “craft, beauty and commerce aren’t enemies — they’re co-conspirators”, and expressed his honour at hosting a gathering of creatives who continue to champion that belief.

The ADC Annual Awards, the world’s longest continuously running global competition celebrating excellence in craft and innovation across advertising and design, will be held at Capitale in New York. The ceremony forms a centrepiece of Creative Week, now in its 17th year, which convenes the global creative community around a series of flagship events including the ADC Annual Awards, The One Show, the inaugural One Show Indies and the Young Ones Student Awards.

Creative Week 2026 will also spotlight emerging trends shaping the industry, with programming focused on artificial intelligence through initiatives such as the AI Creative Challenge and the Executive Creative Summit, reinforcing its position as a key forum for both celebration and forward-looking dialogue in global creativity.