The Uncensored Library

Why it works

A library of banned journalism, hidden inside a video game. Opened on 12 March 2020, the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, The Uncensored Library is a vast neoclassical Minecraft build, over 12.5 million blocks made by 24 builders from 16 countries with the studio BlockWorks, whose in-game books hold articles by journalists from five countries that censored their work. Minecraft remains reachable where news sites are blocked, and its books can be read but not edited, so the game itself became the loophole. It is studied as a breakthrough in treating a game as a medium rather than as ad space, reaching young people under censorship on their own turf. D&AD's archive records more than 20 million gamers reached, over 790 news articles and a 62% rise in donations to RSF. By Monks' count it went on to win nine Cannes Lions and eight D&AD Pencils, and the library has stayed open.