What are the judges looking for?

• Is this work trully great?
• Excellence in all three areas (strategy, creativity, results)
• Do I wish I’d done this myself?
• Has this been done before? If so, is this better?

Each judge marks each entry individually, without conferring, and then the marks are collated and up to 10 entries are put through to the second stage. These entries are discussed in great detail to make sure they excel in all three criteria. Then, without conferring, the judges select the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners.

Usually a clear winner will emerge, but if the level of excellence demands it, the placing is finalised by extra voting or debate. Judges are not allowed to vote for work from their own brands, organisations or work in which they have any kind of interest. No reference to the agency that produced the work is allowed on samples or within the entry form (other than the front page, which the judges do not see).

Furthermore, every judge signs a confidentiality agreement to protect commercially sensitive information and to ensure the results are not revealed until the Awards Ball in December.