By Matthew Leopold, ESA Awards Committee Chair
Congratulations. The busy summer period of activation is over. You can finally relax (a bit) and start thinking about next year. Or an upcoming World Cup. Or Christmas.
But before you relax too much, how are you going to celebrate your brilliant work? Awards, of course!
There are a lot of marketing awards out there, so why should you consider entering the ESA Awards? I have been Chair of Judges on the European Sponsorship Association Awards for six years – so I thought I would tell you why I think this opportunity is so special.
The ESA Awards is Europe-wide
You can be a big fish in a little pond. But can you be the big fish in a big pond? More than 50% of ESA Awards applications come from outside of the UK. So – if your work is good, why not benchmark it against others around the world? The only greater honour than winning an ESA Award is winning a global sponsorship award. And they don’t exist (yet).
The ESA Awards is the pinnacle of sponsorship success
There really is no more prestigious awards in the sponsorship industry than the ESA Awards. Why do I think this? As sponsorship’s representative body in Europe, we don’t run the Awards for fun or for profit. We run the Awards because we want to identify and share best practice in the world of sponsorship. We don’t jump on the bandwagon of a popular campaign because everyone else is, or reward those with the biggest budgets. We unpick what makes a sponsorship successful and reward those that do brilliant sponsorship. I cannot think of anything more prestigious than that.
The ESA Awards is judged by peers
The ESA Awards is unique. We are totally transparent about our judges and how they are recruited. Every year, we invite anyone from the sponsorship (and wider marketing) industries to apply to become a judge. We ask a couple of simple questions, and the Awards Committee ‘blindly’ appoints judges based on those responses. There is no secret cabal of judges with black books of brands they love or hate. All submissions are fairly marked by experts from around the world. Click here to find out more.
There is no fairer judging process
Total transparency is at the heart of the ESA Awards. With applicants from all over Europe, we see a range of different brands, rights holders, agencies and languages being represented. It is really important to us that everyone, no matter where they are from, has an equal chance of winning an award. This means we make everything about the Awards as open as possible.
There is a clear, points-based marking system. This ensures fairness and consistency among our judges. We even publish the marking criteria so you can use it when preparing award applications. We insist that the judges meet and discuss all the campaigns in a category – providing feedback for applicants if desired. This debate helps judges to understand other opinions and challenge assumptions. It means that our winners really, truly deserve to win. If there are no campaigns meeting the standard, we do not award a winner.
It’s easy to enter the ESA Awards
Not only do we provide very clear guidance on what to include in your entry, we make it super easy to do the entry. Do you like writing? No problem. You can send us a written submission of up to 2,000 words, answering the entry questions. Do you hate writing or hate getting your writing signed off? No problem! Send us a video submission. This can be just you talking, or you and a friend having a chat. You can include slideshows and videos if you wish. However, you only have 10 minutes to fill (or 12 if your first language isn’t English). What could be easier than that?
This event is THE event of the year
Imagine a room packed with Europe’s leading sponsorship and brand experts. Imagine free-flowing drinks, top-notch food, and a cool environment. Just think of the VIPs attending to celebrate their work and the sort of entertainment only a well-connected sponsorship association can pull strings to secure. There is nowhere else you should be!