The ICCO NextGen PR World Cup is a public relations, creative pitch competition that gives rising PR professionals from around the world a platform to exercise and showcase excellence through powerful PR and Communications work.
Entry criteria
- Teams of two people
- Under the age of 35
- Agency, in-house, freelance (no restriction).
Qualification
- National and Regional PR associations can open for national qualifier competitions entries, or determine the competitors through existing competitions and other merits.
- The competition must have been completed and winners chosen and submitted to ICCO by 31 March 2026
Key Dates for the Competition:
- Team Submission Deadline: 30 March 2026
- Online Briefing: 18 April 2026
- Competition Dates: 24–26 April 2026
- Judging Period: 26 April – 8 May 2026
- Winners Announcement: 10 May 2026
Final Competition, 18th – 25thApril 2026
- One team submitted per PR association
- Finalists will be given a detailed brief, set by a global NGO.
- Teams must send a deck of no more than 10 slides after 48 hours. This includes 150 words on the creative idea.
- Teams have one week to create a 3-minute video explaining their creative campaign to deliver the brief including strategy, approach, and execution. See ‘submission’ below.
The World Cup Submission
- Video file submitted (3 minutes maximum)
- Deck of 10 slides
- Describe the creative idea, potential for industry impact, the strategy, execution, and timescales.
- Hit on the requirements of the detailed brief written by a globally recognised NGO.
Prize
- Opportunity to present at ICCO Global Summit (2026) with travel and accommodation.
- E-Certificates.
- Opportunity to discuss implementation of the idea with NGO.
- All finalists join exclusive ‘Next Generation Group’ within ICCO. Winners get to join the NextGen Board.
To enter, please contact your local PR association, or get in touch directly at joulyn.kenny@iccopr.com
Winners
ICCO NextGen PR World Cup 2026… Stay tuned.
Finalist
Competition format
In teams of two, participants must work to invent a PR campaign that demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of a brief set by UNDP in coordination with CCT and meets all their detailed requirements.
Briefing, submissions and winners announcement are held online.
Using a scoring system based on a set criteria, the judging panel will determine the winning team, i.e., the team with the highest score.
Qualification
The ICCO NextGen PR World Cup is a global competition. To qualify to compete, participants must have either won national/ regional PR World Cup rounds or have been nominated by a national/ regional association through existing competitions and other merits.
- Both team members must be 35 years old or younger as of 17th May 2025.
- Agency, in-house, and freelance professionals are all welcome to compete (no restrictions, also team members do not need to be from the same organisation).
- All teams must be made up of two people and be submitted by a local association.
If you manage a local or regional association and are running a PR World Cup competition, please let us know.
Rules
National and Regional PR associations are only allowed to submit one team.
Deadline to enter into the ICCO NextGen PR World Cup is 16th April 2025.
At least one team member must be present during the online briefing session.
A team must submit a deck and a video by the 48 hour deadline.
The submitted work has to be independent and done solely by the team, without any outside influence.
All submitted campaign ideas, especially the winning one, have the opportunity to be used and executed by the NGO which provided the brief. In that case, the authors will be contacted by ICCO and the NGO representatives and may have the opportunity to take part in the pro bono execution of the idea.
The ICCO NextGen PR World Cup Submission
– Video file explaining your creative campaign idea to deliver the brief, submitted via wetransfer. Your max. 5 mins video must include details about the approach, strategy and execution of your team’s idea.
– Deck of maximum 10 slides in PDF format, including a 150 word summary of your creative campaign idea, describing the potential for industry impact, the strategy, execution, and timescales.
– Aim to satisfy all requirements of the detailed brief written by the globally recognised NGO.
Prize
– Opportunity to present at 2025 ICCO Global Summit in Mumbai with travel and accommodation covered by the ICCO.
– Opportunity to discuss implementation of the idea with the NGO.
– All finalists join the ‘NextGen Group’ within ICCO and have the opportunity to become part of the NextGen Board.
How to submit a team
Send to joulyn.kenny@iccopr.com no later than 16th April 2025:
- Names of the chosen contestants representing your country/region
- E-mail addresses of the two
- Pictures for promotional use
For information on how to compete, please ask your local PR association or contact ICCO directly at joulyn.kenny@iccopr.com.
Are you a university student interested in the PR World Cup competition?
For university students aspiring to work in the PR industry and interested in competing in a similar competition, there is a separate initiative you can consider – FuturePR. Click to learn more about the competition including the eligibility requirements, submission criteria, prizes and more.
