The Price of a Cannes Lion Trophy Is Unattainable for Many - But Now You Can 3D Print Your Own

Last year, while Nick Howard and Nick Stoner were working at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, they had the honour of winning two Grand Prix in Entertainment and Gaming for Supercell’s ‘Clash From The Past’ campaign. 

“It was awesome,” they say. But then they found out that the trophies cost $5,000 - as much as a Rolex. “That was not awesome.”

As such, many creatives end up with little more than a list of bullet points on a website to commemorate the awards they’ve won when in reality they’d love to own something heavier and more shiny. 

So, Nick and Nick, who are currently creative directors at Leo Burnett Chicago, have launched ‘Awards for All’, an open-source catalogue of 3D print-ready files of every Cannes Lions Trophy. Anyone can visit the website, download the 3D files, and print the exact trophy they won for free. A film shows just how easy it is for any winner to print their own Cannes Lion. You can check out the project at AWARDSFORALL.xyz.

“Awards can feel unattainable,” says Nick Howard. “Then you win and you find that they really are. This is a way for the whole team, from the traffic manager to the line producer, to your parents, to participate and feel proud.”

Awards For All is unaffiliated with any agency and was a passion project from creatives collaborating between the US, Finland, and Bulgaria. The creators say that it’s meant to be a sustainable solution to give everyone who put in the long hours on these award-winning campaigns a chance to have a trophy of their own. 

 

“Anyone who’s won an award has a bullet point on their website. It’d be nice to have something on your desk,” adds Nick Stoner. “Paint it rainbow. Glue the Lion upside down. The point is, award-winning work takes a village and every team member should have the chance to celebrate the hours put into getting that award in the first place.”

To create the files, actual Cannes Lions from past years were scanned and converted into files ready to print. “The process was actually incredibly simple,” says 3D artist Juho Norokyto. “With 3D printing, you can print anything from a keychain to a car. We were able to create files for every award over a series of 20-minute Zoom calls. In the spirit of the campaign, we had to use the free Zoom, of course, hence the 20-minute limit.”

 

“The printing process does take about 40 hours,” adds film producer Henkka Hämäläinen. “They may only weigh a few grams, but they’re incredibly intricate awards. The Lion itself is quite detailed.”

 

Nick and Nick are keen to stress that Awards For All isn’t meant to be a middle finger to awards, but rather a way for more of the industry to participate in the lauded event. Their intent is for this project to be a celebration of all the work and long hours that  everybody - not just the creatives - puts into winning a Cannes Lion.

 

For those who can afford the $5000 awards, the website encourages donations to charity instead to keep investing in the industry’s future and ensure that award-winning creative is sustainable for years to come.