Guidance and How to Enter
The ICCO Digital Awards 2020 will be judged by some of the biggest names from the worlds of digital leadership, communications, and journalism, meaning that winning one of these awards truly recognises cutting-edge PR and communications work.
- Promote the industry – the awards will recognise the talent and impact of individuals, teams, and campaigns from the best of the digital PR and communications profession.
- Encourage your team – shine the limelight on your team’s fantastic work and reward everybody who contributed.
- Make your mark – display and celebrate your success over the last year and be recognised on a truly global scale.
- Expand your network – win new business and open opportunities for new clientele by rubbing shoulders with award-winning businesses.
Earlybird entry deadline
23:59 ET, Friday 17th July, 2020
Standard entry deadline
23:59 ET, Friday 21st August, 2020
Shortlist announced
Friday, 11th September, 2020
Awards Ceremony
Tuesday, 13th October, 2020
Entry Guidelines
The ICCO Digital Awards are open to all parties involved in the use of PR and communications around the world, including PR consultancies, freelancers, and in-house communications departments. Your written entry must be no more than 1,000 words, size 10 font, and a maximum of 4 sides of A4. Do ensure you have sought permission for the right to use the intellectual property of the brand or client entered.
Organisations can submit multiple entries into all categories. Companies or individuals can submit entries on behalf of themselves or others.
Eligibility and Confidentiality
All entries that are made into the Campaign
Award Categories must fall between the time frame of 15th August 2019 – 15th August 2020
Please ensure that for categories recognising the performance of teams or consultancies, financial figures should relate to your most recent financial year.
To ensure objective judging based on content, it is important to note that all entries for Team.
Judges will assume that campaigns using celebrities or other associations have been paid for their involvement unless stipulated otherwise.
Your Entry
The ICCO Digital Awards encourages you to be as creative as you wish, as there is no ‘official’ format that you must use for your Award entry. However, we would advise that you follow the judging criteria listed which vary for the Campaign, Team, and Individual Awards titles.
ICCO Digital Awards 2019 Judging Criteria
Campaigns
- Strategy & Research
- Execution
- Originality
- Effectiveness & Results
Team Awards (Network and Independent)
- Collaboration & Innovation
- Staff & Client Retention
- Diversity
- Documented Results & Performance
You Must Have:
Two images and the company logo must be uploaded alongside your entry, at a size of no larger than 2MB per image. Images can also be included in the body of your entry to support your case.
The campaign budget must be stated. When PR is part of an integrated campaign state the PR budget and the approximate campaign budget must be clear.
If the campaign is integrated, when demonstrating results please state the PR’s involvement and outline the activity of the other marketing disciplines.
Please ensure that for categories recognising the performance of teams or consultancies, financial figures should relate to your most recent financial year.
Supporting Materials (Optional):
Supporting documentation such as press cuttings and video/URL links are optional – all relevant information should be included in your main entry. If choosing to include a video, it must not run for longer than 4 minutes and be hosted on either Vimeo or YouTube. Please do remember that supporting documentation will only be consulted where judges are unable to distinguish between two entries.
Contact Details:
For Awards information please contact: awards@iccopr.com or call 020 723 36026.
Tips & Tricks
1. Choose wisely The variety, depth, and breadth of the PR industry alongside the large range of award categories to choose from means there will always be a slight overlap. Choose the category wisely to ensure you’re entering the best possible choice for you.
2. Follow the guidelines Read the entry guide and read it again. The judges will stick closely to the criteria set out in the guide and so if you don’t include something, you’re already setting yourself behind the other entrants!
3. Be honest Whether it’s campaign costs, over-inflated measurements and results, or any other use of false information, the judges will be able to notice immediately. Don’t waste the opportunity to have a winning entry by providing the judges with an unrealistic submission.
4. Plan, plan, plan Think how many other entries you may be up against and know that a lastminute entry may not be the best path to a win. A good entry that has sufficient time, thought, and energy put in will stand out from the other submissions.
5. Try not to assume Despite the judges being industry experts in their sector, they may not have in-depth knowledge of your entry. Aim to provide as much detail as you can, keeping your entry clear from the start for the judges.
6. Stand out and be creative Give the judges something interactive to look at and engage with to help them better understand your entry. Whether that’s through the use of language, image or video, bring your entry to life by using different mediums.
7. Results Remember that everyone has great results and so don’t tell the judges – show them! Put your results in context and show the tangibility by always linking them back to your original aims. Simple facts and figures sometimes make more of a statement. Clear evaluation metrics* can tell a story and support why your entry may have been so successful.
*Please note that judges will not allow AVEs.