There are clearly hygiene factors that everyone should get right, such as the format the entry should follow and certain information that must be included. For more background on these factors, check out Media Week's awards website at
But once you've satisfied the basic criteria, how do you make your entry stand out in the crowd? To answer this question, Media Week asked the people on the inside, those really in the know: the judges themselves. They revealed what clinched the awards for previous winners, as well as areas they believed could be improved this year.
Ten ways to make your awards entry stand out
1) Tell a good story
Write your entry as though you are writing a really good story. Imagine you are back at school and have to think of a "beginning", a "middle" and an "end". The beginning should set out the objectives clearly. The middle should explain the strategy, and the end should reveal the results.
"Draw us in by bringing the issue, agency, consumer, media solution et cetera to life through descriptive language, good scenario setting, real people and quotes," says Marie Oldham, chief strategy officer, MPG.
2) Keep it simple
As many judges say: "less is sometimes more". Remember that by the time the judges get to reading your entry, they may have already sifted through 60 or 70 others. Avoid jargon and flowery language. Check for typos, grammatical mistakes and spelling (especially of the client's name).
As Andrew Walmsley, former co-founder of i-Level, says: "People mistakenly think that using long words makes them sound clever, but keeping it simple is actually the essence of being clever."
3) Promote your big idea
Think about what makes your campaign, team or agency unique and focus your entry on supporting this one main "big idea". One compelling idea is much better than cramming in as many points as possible, which dilutes the effect and makes the entry confusing to read.
4) First impressions count
First impressions count, so make an instant impact. "Write a strong, powerful management summary of a few, short sentences. Don't worry about revealing all at the start; it will inspire us to read on to the end," says OMD's UK managing director Jonathan Allan.
5) Have fun
Consider using humour, if relevant. As Neil Jones, director of commercial strategy at News International Commercial, says: "This could be advisable if humour is central to the strategy, or adds perspective to the entry. Very few entries do this, so it could be a good USP."
6) Stick to the truth
Don't exaggerate, lie or include spurious claims, as judges will see through them. "Too many entries, particularly from media owner sales departments, undermine their case by making assertions of ‘groundbreaking' or ‘unique' without any evidence. Careless use of over-claim can undermine the judges' confidence in the whole submission," says Douglas McArthur, managing consultant, Planning For Results.
If the client won't let you disclose numbers, say that. The success of your entry will then depend on how well you can sell your work using other measures of success. But beware of unsubstantiated claims. These, says Walmsley, are like "a red rag to a judging bull".
7) Involve the whole team
Make the entry a joint effort, especially if you are putting yourself forward for a team award. This will produce a better, more comprehensive summary, as well as making the story more interesting. Besides, success in media is rarely down to one individual, so don't leave the writing or presenting to one person.
8) Entertain the judges
If you are meeting judges face to face as part of the process, think about how you can engage your (probably tired) audience. As Starcom MediaVest's group trading director Chris Locke advises: "There's no harm in having a bit of imagination. This is not a pitch for business. Add some personality. Use nice graphics. Remember we see presentations all day, so be memorable and not too noble."
TalkSport once presented in the radio studio, making everyone wear headphones and using mock "live links", while FHM used the winner of its High Street Honeys competition to hold up the story boards. And CBS Outdoor's sale team, which had an afternoon slot, got all the judges to board a bus and delivered an interactive presentation of their story.
Linda Smith, executive chair of the RAB and chair of this year's Media Week Awards, recalls: "CBS Outdoor really understood their audience. They realised we'd been sitting in a stuffy room all afternoon, so they made us walk downstairs to the bus and had a dialogue with us, rather than delivering another PowerPoint presentation. They won because their whole approach underpinned their creative approach to client briefs."
9) Be a ruthless editor
Be ruthless when redrafting. Once you've written your rough draft of the entry, or had your first stab at the presentation script, read it over several times and cut out superfluous information. This will make it much clearer. It's also a good idea to get someone who hasn't been directly involved to cast their fresh eyes over it to double-check clarity. OMD's Allan suggests setting up a role-play, with this person taking on the judge's role.
10) Dare to be different
Remember you're talking to a very cynical audience who think they have seen it all before, says MediaCom's chief strategy officer Sue Unerman, so you've got to work hard to convince them otherwise. In Unerman's experience of judging, very few written entries try to take an unusual approach.
"I've never seen, for example, an entry written from the point of view of a consumer, or in the style of a dialogue between the media agency and client," she says. "These would both get my attention. Yes, they may be a high-risk strategy, as they may polarise the judges, but if you just submit a bland entry, you're not going to win."
Unerman adds it's also worth remembering that it is almost impossible to win over every judge, but the most important thing is "to be passionate about what you're saying".
The deadline for this year's Media Week Awards submissions is 11 June. For a full list of categories and details of how to enter, please visit .
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