B2B Awards judges are predominantly senior client-side B2B marketers, although senior agency and marketing services personnel may also participate.
The judging process is entirely independent from the management of the awards, to ensure that the highest standards of integrity are maintained, and we have a new panel of judges every year. An independent chairman – marketing consultant Peter Young – oversees the judging process, approves the judges and validates the verdicts.
If you are interested in being an Awards judge, please contact Saba Hudson.
The judging process is structured as follows:
Preliminary round
All entries are assessed to ensure they meet basic criteria and are correctly formatted.
Round 1
The first round will sift through all entries in each category and identify approximately five entries from each to form the shortlist. This will be revealed in August.
Round 2
The second round will identify the winners, ‘runner ups’ and ‘highly-commendeds’ in each category. This information will be revealed at the awards gala dinner in November.
Practitioners participating in rounds are required to sign a ‘code of conduct’ form committing them to the highest standards of integrity and confidentiality regarding any information that they glean from the judging process.
Judges are asked to declare if they have a conflict regarding a specific campaign, client or agency being scrutinised, and may be asked to leave the room for the duration of the judging of that category.
Judging takes place as a round-table discussion over the merits of each entry in terms of its relation to the category brief. Entries are scored by consensus against judging criteria to achieve a verdict.
Judging criteria: Campaign categories
Campaign categories will be judged according to the following four principal criteria:
1. Understanding of objectives: How well was activity tailored to an identified business need, target audience and business environment? Did the agency/marketing team demonstrate understanding of specific campaign objectives as well as the brand’s long-term business objectives?
2. Strategic thinking: Did the agency/marketing team add value through intelligent, innovative and relevant strategic thinking?
3. Creativity: Did this campaign demonstrate original thinking in creative idea generation and execution?
4. Effectiveness/results: Was success measured, was ROI evaluated, did the campaign meet set objectives and add value to the client’s business?
Judging criteria: Agency categories
Agency categories will be judged on the following criteria.
1. Work for clients: An outline of the breadth and range of work produced for clients, demonstrating strategic and tactical mix, skills utilised and how close working relationships have been nurtured and managed.
2. Financial performance: How the agency has performed as a business, against expectations.
3. Staff and community engagement: Strategies for retaining and developing staff, and engaging with the wider business and marketing community – the softer aspects of running a business.
4. Key initiatives and achievements: What have you done this year to deserve this accolade? Any other developments or achievements of note or merit.
Judges will be asked to score each entry between 1-5 (one being best and five being worst) through a matrix for means of comparison.
A list of judges for this year's awards will be posted here once they are confirmed.
