Do

• Invest time and effort writing your entry– it will succeed or fail in the first round of judging on the basis of the entry submission alone
• Read the category criteria thoroughly before starting your submission
• Make sure your entry is interesting and compelling to read. Make your point quickly and clearly
• Write each entry specifically for the category entered
• Follow the entry format provided – otherwise your entry will be disqualified
• Show a clear link between strategy, (SMART) objectives, tactics and outcomes:
  
  
  • Outline the problem clearly and succinctly
  • Explain what you wanted to achieve and why
  • Show evidence of a strong strategy
  • Say why you approached the problem in this way
  • Show how you defined critical success factors
  • Describe any difficult circumstances you had to overcome
  • Provide evidence of effectiveness of outcomes vs objectives and remember that benchmark data is essential

• Give tangible outcomes wherever possible. Audience data is useful, but details of outcomes (eg financial, reputational etc) are essential
• Demonstrate the rationale (based on marketing research) for your positioning and chosen strategy
• Show what sort of evaluation methods you have employed
• Do ensure the evaluation and outcomes really do marry up with the SMART objectives you set out to achieve – if they don’t, it’s not a winner

Don’t

• Make assumptions about what the judges know
• Construct your objectives retrospectively – they are easy to spot
• Confuse objectives with tactics
• Be too formulaic – creativity is important
• Post-rationalise
• Overuse jargon
• Assume the judges will see supporting materials in the first round of scoring – they won’t! Your entry needs to be strong enough to stand on it’s own at this stage as decisions are based solely on the content of the entry

And finally…

Click here to download a copy of the Judges' tips.