Welcome to the Online Judging Process

Each award entry is reviewed in two stages. The first round takes place via our online judging platform. The second round is an in-person panel session, if shortlisted.

After completing the online round, you may be invited to join the face-to-face panel to help decide the final winners and runners-up. This is optional, but a great opportunity to connect with other senior client-side B2B marketers and hear perspectives from different industries.

To ensure fairness and transparency, the judging process is completely independent from the awards team. It is overseen by independent head judge Shane Redding

Structure and Methodology

Judging will take place on OpenWater, our online platform. You’ll be asked to score entries based on a set of pre-defined criteria, which vary slightly by category. The highest-scoring entries will move on to the next round.

Each judge will review around 30–40 entries across a few categories. We recommend spending no more than 10 minutes per entry, which works out to about 6–8 hours total during the judging window. That said, some judges prefer a more detailed review and spend closer to 20 minutes per entry.

We suggest blocking out a full day or spreading the time across several sessions to suit your schedule.

Judging period: 28 July – 15 August 2025
You’ll have received a calendar invite to help you plan.

A separate step-by-step guide to using the OpenWater platform will be shared shortly. It’s quick to get set up and easy to use.

Campaign categories (categories 1–26) will be judged according to the following criteria:

› Understanding of objectives: How well was activity tailored to an identified business need, target audience and business environment? Did the agency/marketing team demonstrate an understanding of specific campaign objectives as well as the brand’s long-term business objectives?

› Strategic thinking: Did the agency/marketing team add value through intelligent, innovative and relevant strategic thinking?

› Creativity: Did this campaign demonstrate original thinking in creative idea generation and execution?

› Effectiveness/results: Was success measured, was ROI evaluated, did the campaign meet set objectives and add value to the client’s business?

Marketing team of the year (category 27) will
be judged according to the following criteria:

› Commercial challenges: Which commercial
challenges were faced, and how were they
resolved?
› Individual contributions: What are the strengths
and contributions of individual team members, and how do these complement each other?

› Team working and collaboration:
Demonstration of how the team workedtogether to achieve objectives and prove that the whole is greater than the sum of  the individual parts.

› Strategic alignment: How the team and
marketing function is aligned with the rest
of the organisation.

› Team development and retention.

Marketer of the year (category 28) will be judged according to the following criteria:

› Achievements in their career: What they have achieved to date at various levels of responsibility with the same or different organisation.

› Achievements within the last 24 months: Specific achievements based around specified objectives, including measurement, results and testimonials.

› Strategic vision and impact on the business: Demonstration of their understanding of overall corporate challenges and objectives, and alignment with these.

› Impact on other employees and departments: How they have collaborated with the rest of the organization and promoted the benefits of marketing to a wider audience.

Agency categories (categories 29-30) will be judged on the following criteria:

› Contribution to clients’ business: An explanation
of what the agency has delivered for its clients
and an understanding of the impact that this has
had on their success.

› Creative thinking: How the agency and its
personnel have demonstrated their creative
resources to meet clients’ objectives, not only in
terms of traditional campaign development, but
also in more strategic terms and using new
techniques such as social media.

› Financial performance and stability: How the
agency has performed as a business, against
expectations, and evidence of a robust
business model.

› Staff and commercial community engagement:
Strategies for retaining and developing staff
and engaging with the wider business and
marketing community – the softer aspects of
running a business.

› Key initiatives and achievements: What have you
done this year to deserve this accolade? Any other
developments or achievements of note or merit?

Please only score in numerical 0, 1, 2 ,3, 4, or 5 in each criteria box 

1. Sign the ‘Code of conduct’ form
There’s a lot of sensitive information when you enter the portal, so it’s essential you don’t disclose anything outside the judging environment.

2. Get under the skin of the categories

Ensure you read the category overview carefully, so you understand the key criteria of the campaign you’re judging. This will vary from one category to another.

3. Look at the judging criteria
How should you appraise these campaigns? Which factors are important? We’ve provided a score sheet, which you can use to evaluate.

4. Double check the marks
Briefly go back through the entries to double check the marks that you’ve given each one –you may find some need a little adjusting now that you’ve got an idea of the overall standard.

5. Submit your marks
Your job is done. Thanks very much for your participation!