The European Excellence Awards
The European Excellence Awards honour outstanding achievements in the field of communications and PR across Europe.
Applicants
The awards are open to public relations, communications, brand building and reputation management professionals from companies, consultancies, associations and NGOs whose work has displayed exceptional talent and ability.
Entry deadline
The deadline for all applications is October 5th, 2012. Applications sent on October 5th must be sent by express post on that day.
Jury
The jury is comprised of around thirty leading communications professionals from companies, agencies, associations and universities.
Selection process
After the deadline for entries has passed, our jury will review all submissions and choose a shortlist of five projects per category. Entries are evaluated against the following criteria: strategy, innovation, creativity, cost-efficiency and results.
By November 10th, entrants will be informed as to whether or not their project has been selected for the shortlist. The winners will then be decided anonymously during a two-day jury meeting prior to the gala ceremony, and announced at the gala ceremony.
The companies or agencies of jury members may enter the competition, however the relevant juror is not allowed to take part in the judging process in any category into which their organisation/agency has submitted projects.
Entry fee
The application fee applies per project and per category entered. Your first application will cost 240 Euro plus VAT, and each additional application submitted will cost 190 Euro plus VAT. Please note that the above prices only apply to applications submitted online. If you prefer to apply by post or email, an extra charge of 20 Euro per entry will apply. Once your application(s) have been processed, you will be issued an invoice with payment instructions.
Timeframe
Any project created or published after September 30th, 2011 may participate in the competition. An integral part of the project must have taken place after this date, however it is not necessary for the whole project to have taken place after September 2011.
Language of submission
All submission forms and documents must be completed in English, however the project itself need not have taken place in English. Supporting material can be submitted in its original language.
How many categories may I apply for?
Projects can be entered in more than one category, and it is possible to apply in as many categories as you are interested in. Please be aware that nominations for the ‘Accomplishment’ category (categories 2-3) have different application forms to categories 4-58. Please note: the application fee is per project, per category entered.
It is no longer possible to apply for the Best Campaign category (category 1). The winner of this award will be chosen from all of the entries by the jury members during their meeting prior to the gala ceremony.
Application
You can either submit your application using our simple online system at www.application.excellence-awards.eu or send in your application by post or email. The judging process will not be affected by the method of application you choose. Your completed application must contain the following elements:
1 General contact details about the entrant(s), the involved agency and organisation.
2 The main details of the project in bullet point format: a) time frame of the project, b) budget in Euro (this information will not be distributed and plays a major role in helping the jury assess your project), c) number of employees working on the project, d) online link to the project (if applicable), e) short summary of the project at a maximum length of 300 characters (including spacing and punctuation).
3 A project description of no more than 2,000 characters in total (including spacing and punctuation) must be provided, including the following information: a) the situation which led to the creation of the project, b) the objective of the campaign, c) the strategy involved in the campaign, d) how the project was implemented, e) the results achieved by the campaign (e.g. coverage, sales and user numbers, evaluation and survey results, etc).
4 Supporting material should be carefully selected to illustrate the main points and essence of your project. There is a limit of up to three supporting documents (one document equals one file or copy), with the exception of entries into the Agency of the Year and Newcomer Agency of the Year categories. Items accepted as supporting material include, for example, planning documents, press releases, pictures, brochures, powerpoint presentations of no more than 10 slides, movies of no more than 3 minutes and any online material or other unique media. You can either upload your supporting material using the online system, or send it with your hard copies by post.
5 Include one picture that best represents your project to illustrate it to the jury and at the ceremony, if it is shortlisted.
6 You can specify up to three links to websites, social media platforms, intranet sites or online videos.
Digital format
The following file formats can be accepted:
For text: .pdf, .doc.
For pictures: .jpg/.jpeg, .gif, .png. (Ideally in print quality; 300dpi).
For videos/movies: .mov, .flv, .avi, .mpg/.mpeg (no larger than 50 MB), or a link to the website where the video is posted.
For presentations: .pdf, .ppt (ideally convert powerpoints into pdf format, no larger than 5 MB).
Applying by post or email
If you decide to send in hard copies of your project, please make sure that you include one copy of the application form and the text document, plus three copies of all printed supporting material, such as publications or posters, per project. All entry material should be carefully marked with the category, project title and names of the organisation and the agency (if appropriate). Please ensure, however, that you also provide all material in digital form (USB, CD), in addition to the physical documents. Submitted material can not be returned.
Applying online
We have developed a new application system, allowing you to easily submit your entry/entries on our dedicated password-protected intranet site. You can upload all of your application material, in addition to any supporting material, on www.application.excellence-awards.eu. If your project is shortlisted, you will be asked to send in hard copies of your supporting material in hard copy form so that they jury will be able to assess them during their meeting.
Documentation
The finalists’ projects will be documented in brochures, on the website and at the gala ceremony.
Presentation
The winners will be announced and presented with their awards at the European Excellence Awards gala ceremony on December 6th, 2012 at the Roundhouse in London.