Download and complete entry form and all attachments presented below in two language versions

This year there are 3 separate entry forms:

• Standard Entry Form for Industry and Specialty Categories (except Sustained Success and Performance Marketing)
• Sustained Success Entry Form for Sustained Success Category
• Performance Marketing Entry Form for Performance Marketing Category

Attachments below should be completed in addition to Entry form:

HOW TO COMPLETE THE WRITTEN PART OF ENTRY FORM

• Download the Entry Forms & Attachments to prepare your responses and collaborate with team members, partner agencies, and clients.
• Please give yourself enough time to complete all requirements within the website before your intended entry deadline.
• All documents must be completed in two languages (Ukrainian and English) as separate files.
  Note: there are dedicated Entry Forms for submissions into the Performance Marketing & Sustained Success categories
• Carefully read all the details of entry form and answer on each question in the entry form. You can’t remove the detailed instructions in any question, or any other part of the entry form, as well as edit or change the font and text size of questions in entry form. 
• Judges evaluate work on effectiveness in the context of the category definition. Review category definitions for additional requirements that must be addressed in your entry.  Judges will down-score your submission if requirements are not met. When entering an effort into multiple categories, tailor each entry to speak to the specific category definitions wherever applicable. 
• Provide your answers in the entry form as interesting and fascinating story. Your case should be the interesting story that is accompanied by the facts with evidences, and it must be consistent and concise enough.
• Use a voice of honesty – judges are looking for the real situation you started with, what you achieved, and the persuasive argument that links the work to the results achieved. State why results are significant in the context of your situation. 
• Make your entry from clear, interesting, and easy-to-read. Use brevity wherever possible. Treat the entry form like a story – each section should link to one another (between strategy, goals, idea, its implementation and results).Use in entry form the formatting oftext color, italics, underline, etc., as well as use tables, graphs and diagrams and it will help judges better understand your information.
• Address every objective in your section and guide thorough the results achieved. Eliminate any other factors that judges may mistakenly believe could have contributes to the success – prove it was your work that led to the results. 
• Source all data in your entry form and include dates for the time period covered.
• Follow all formatting requirements as outlined in the entry kit and entry form.

OBJECTIVE TYPES AND EXAMPLES 

In Entry Form there is a space to set-up not only an overarching explanation to objectives & KPIs. But you will list out each objective individually. For each objective, you may provide context, including category background and/or prior year benchmarks, for why the objectives were important for the brand and growth of the business.

You can review guidance here to select Objective Type for your case.

Note: This list is offered as guidance and is not comprehensive. Effie welcomes entrants to define objectives and effectiveness in their own way.

SOURCING DATA

All data, presented anywhere in the entry form, must reference a specific, verifiable source with date ranges for all data and facts presented throughout the entry form. Any data without a source will be disregarded and will result in entry disqualification. The absence of data validation may be the cause of disqualification. The organizing committee reserves the right to verify all information. Sources should include time period covered, type of research, etc.

Acceptable sources can be: advertiser data, agency research or third party research companies. Use the specific name of the company to reference a source except when the source is an agency (ad, media, or other). Because Effie is an agency-blind competition we require agency research to be referenced via the term “Agency Research”. This applies to all agencies, not limited to the entering agency, as judges may think the agency listed is the entering agency and would then flag the case for disqualification. However, you must still be as specific as possible about this source (time period covered, research involved, etc.). 

Be as specific as possible in documenting all evidence: provide source of data, research involved and time period covered (it is crucial to include the dates for all results presented in your case). 

Organizing Committee of Effie Awards Ukraine presents complementary process of data' proof in entry if judges have doubt about provided references for verifiable source. It will have such procedure as: 

- If judge has doubt about data' proof, he/she has rights to mark these data and notify the other judges. Other judges of this panel will be informed about the decision of their colleague. If minimum 50% of judges has doubt about an entry, entrant must provide data' proof. Scoring of this entry is put off.

- Data' proof (for example, reports of research and monitoring companies etc.) must be presented by entrant in 2 working days after finishing Round Judging. Request may be sent in 1 working day after finishing of both Rounds.

- Confirmed reports may be provided by research and monitoring companies. In case if it will be “advertiser data” (data provided by the client/advertiser) it should be provided a detailed justification of such data.

- Organizing Committee send out data' proof to all judges. They evaluate entry in consideration of data' proof and send protocols to Committee in a day.

- If data cannot be provided or forgery of data is identified, entry will result in disqualification.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS OF ENTRY FORM

• Word limit rules. Because each entrant has a different story to tell, word limits are kept broad; however, entrants are not required or encouraged to use all provided space. 10-point font or higher answers are recommended for judge legibility.
• Answer all questions. If a question is not applicable, you must state this as N/A directly under the question. You may not leave any question blank. 
• Questions and instructions may not be removed from the entry form. You may not edit entry form template and remove any questions or detailed instructions from the entry form.  
• Review your written case. Please check the entry form: spelling, grammatical errors, the data, and results.
• Do not include agency names and logos in entry form and creative materials. Do not include agency names in the written case, creative examples (including file names), or sources. When citing agency research in your sourcing, list source as “agency research,” “media agency research,” “third party agency research,” etc., along with other sourcing details.  This rule applies to all agency names, not just your agency.
• Graphs, charts are recommended. Entrants are encouraged to display data via charts & graphs within the limits allotted in each question. 
• Do not include competitor logos and work. Competitor logos and creative work may not be included anywhere in your entry form and creative materials.
• No screengrabs and images in your entry form. Do not include images of your creative or other images, including social media screenshots, in your written entry. There should go on your creative materials.
• Do not include any other graphics or pictorial elements in your written entry form (unless they are part of a chart/graph).
• Directing Judges to External Websites.  Do not direct judges to visit external websites.  Judges can only review the content provided in your written entry and creative examples.

TOP TIPS FROM THE JURY

• BE CLEAR, CONCISE, COMPELLING & HONEST. Shorter, well-written entries typically stand out, as judges review 15-20 submissions in a session. 
• CONTEXT IS KEY. Judges typically do not work in your category & may not know your brand. Provide judges with the context to understand the degree of difficulty for your challenge & the significance of your results. Limit industry jargon & define all terms.
• SPEAK TO THE CATEGORY: Some categories include requirements within the definition and judges will lower their score if requirements are not met. Judges evaluate work on effectiveness in the context of the category definition, so it is critical to speak to the entered category when submitting your work. 
• TELL A STORY. Write your entry with your audience, Effie Judges, in mind.  Judges are looking for an engaging, clear story that links each section of the form together.  Judges will be evaluating your work with a critical eye – address questions you think they will have.
• REVIEW. Ask colleagues who do not work on the brand to review the entry.  Ask what questions they have – what was unclear?  Where did the case fall flat?  Ask a strong proofreader to review the entry.

CAUSES OF POINTS DEDUCTION

• Unclear goals. Provided goals that are based on the achieved results and setting goals after the fact of realization instead of the exact explanation of the situation. This is one of the most common complaints of the jury. 
• The gap between goals and results. Incomplete compliance of the objectives and KPIs with results. Your goals and the results should match. Do not specify the brand awareness as a goal, and in the results provide only sales data. Provide evidence that it is due to marketing communications such results have been achieved. If you couldn’t reach one of your goal, explain why. The jury appreciates the honesty. 
• The lack of description of the target audience. 
• The lack of media strategy. Explain the choice of media channels. Why these media channels were chosen for realization of your ideas and for your target audience. 
• Insufficient data to assess the situation. For example, do not specify the data of the previous year, competitors’ data, etc. 
• Grammatical and mathematical errors, corrections, etc. 
• Unfamiliar terms. Avoid slang and specialized words – the judge may not know your professional slang. 
• The lack of explanation of campaign effectiveness. The list of results, without giving the explanation of their importance and link to the objectives, can be evaluated by the jury with low score. 
• Overload of entry form with superfluous details. 
• Unclear or incomplete references to sources of data’ proof and results. As well remember that the absence of references to the sources – it will result in disqualification. 
• The lack of explanation of idea. Show what was the reason of it creation. 
• Incomplete answers to some questions. When the jury sees questions without answers, they usually assume that it is information absence because of negative reasons. Carefully read detailed instructions/questions in the entry form, make sure that you have answered to all the questions.

THE AUTHORIZATION & VERIFICATION FORM (ATTACHMENT №1) 

The Authorization & Verification form must be signed off by an agency or client executive in a departmental or account leadership position (e.g. Head of Account Planning, Head of Client Services, Group Account Director, etc.) This document must be carefully reviewed in its entirety and signed in the designated space at the end of the document.

The Authorization & Verification Form confirms: 

• Accuracy of entry information and authorization of submission.
• Company and individual credits have been thoroughly reviewed by senior leadership to guarantee all integral strategic partners are credited properly for the Effie Index and awards recognition.  
• Permission for the written entry.

If you are submitting an effort into multiple categories, separate Authorization & Verification Forms must be signed for each submission.

PUBLICATION OF WRITTEN ENTRY FORM 

The Effie Awards entry and judging process is designed to help all entrants present their work effectively, while ensuring the confidentialty of classified information. 

The Effie Awards Ukraine offers finalists and winners the opportunity to have written cases published in the Effie Case Database, in turn helping inspire the industry and do their part to Make Marketing Better.  Entrants who give permission to publish their written case may have their entry featured on the Effie Worldwide web site or Effie partner web sites or publications. 
In the spirit of learning that Effie represents, we encourage you to share your case studies so that we may Make Marketing Better.

We respect that entries may have information deemed confidential. Within Attachment №1, entrants are asked to set publishing permission for the written entry.  

Please select from the following options:

“PUBLISH AS THE CASE WAS SUBMITTED” - You agree that the written entry form may be published as it was submitted and reproduced or displayed for educational purposes.  

“PUBLISH AN EDITED VERSION OF THE WRITTEN CASE” - You agree to submit an edited version of your case study for publication which will be reproduced or displayed for educational purposes. You may redact any confidential information.   

The written case is the only portion of the entry that should contain confidential information.  For that reason, the written case is the only portion of the entry that is included in the above publication permission policy.  The creative work (reel, images), public case summary, and statement of effectiveness need not include confidential information and will be showcased in various ways if your entry becomes a finalist or winner.
Work submitted must be original or you must have received rights to submit it.

ADDITIONAL DATA (ATTACHMENT №2)  

These materials support Effie’s mission of leading, inspiring & championing the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness.

Additional Data includes main entry details, publicity materials (Public Case Summary & Statement of Effectiveness), case background, Company credits & Individual credits.

PUBLICATION OF CREATIVE MATERIALS, CASE SUMMARY AND STATEMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS

The creative material and case summary you submit into the competition become the property of Effie Worldwide and the Effie Awards and will not be returned. By entering your work in the competition, the Effie Awards/Effie Worldwide is automatically granted the right to make copies, reproduce and display the creative materials, case summaries, and statements of effectiveness within the context of your Effie entry for education and publicity purposes.  

Creative work, case summaries, and the statement of effectiveness may be featured on website of Effie Awards Ukraine, Effie Worldwide’s website, partner websites, press releases/newsletters, programming/conferences and the Effie Awards Gala.

Creative material submitted to the Effie Awards includes your creative reel and all .jpg images. The case summary is your 100-word public summary and 15-character statement of effectiveness of your case.  Entrants should not include confidential information in these elements.

The intention of this statement is to provide a better understanding of why your work was worthy of either finalist status or an award. It is an opportunity to showcase the success of your effort. You may choose to touch on your most important result, why the effort was effective or significant to the brand, the most important learning taken away from this case, or an interesting/fun fact about the work.

COMPANY CREDITS 

Effie recognizes the effective teamwork needed to create an effective case.  You are required to credit all creative and strategic partners who contributed to the effort.

• Space has been below to credit a maximum of the one lead agency, two clients, and four contributing agencies. You must credit the client and one lead agency. 
• If you are an advertiser submitting in-house work, please list your company as both the Lead Agency & Client.  You may also credit contributing companies who assisted with the effort.
• Entrants are required to thoroughly review company credits at time of entry, as credits cannot be removed after time of entry. Senior leadership must sign off on the credits using the “Authorization & Verification Form” (Entry attachment № 1). 
• Please confirm the spelling and formatting of other company names to ensure they will receive proper credit in the Effie Index and in all forms of publicity. 
•  We urge you to think carefully about your partners – clients; agencies of all types including full service, media, digital, marketing services, PR, events; media owners; research companies; etc.

INDIVIDUAL CREDITS 

Space has been provided to credit 10 primary individuals and 30 secondary individuls who contributed to the case. Please credit all main client and agency team members and make sure spelling is correct. 10 primary individuals listed will be credited at website of Effie Awards Ukraine and in the online Case Study Database. 30 secondary individuls will appear on the Case Database and do not appear elsewhere.

CREDIT AMENDMENT POLICY  

The Client, Lead Agency are considered final at the time of entry and cannot be removed or added after the entry is finalized and accepted by Effie Awards.
Additional contributing company credits and individual credits can be added after the entry is finalized and accepted by Effie Awards only if the entry did not already credit the maximum number of contributing companies and individuals permitted. No credit edits/additions are permitted after 30 September 2023. 
All credit requests will be reviewed and accepted at the discretion of Effie Worldwide and are not guaranteed.