Guidance and How to Enter

Welcome to the guidelines to enter the PRCA MENA Digital Awards 2019.

It is our pleasure to invite you to be part of the very first PRCA MENA Digital Awards 2019, honouring the year’s most effective and creative digital PR and communications campaigns, individuals, and teams across the MENA region.

In this document you will find resources to help you complete your award entry, making it as efficient as possible.

On behalf of PRCA MENA, we look forward to seeing your award entries and wish you the best of luck in the PRCA MENA Digital Awards 2019.

Key Information

What are the PRCA MENA Digital Awards?
Key dates
Eligibility
Submitting your entry
Fees

Key Dates

Final Entry submission

Deadline: Thursday, 17th October, 2019

550 AED – Members

1100 AED – Non Members

Judging of Awards
22nd October – 5th November

Shortlist announced
Thursday, 7th November, 2019

Awards Night
Wednesday, 11th December, 2019

Eligibility and Entry Requirements

Who can enter?

The PRCA MENA Digital Awards are open to all parties involved in the use of PR for communications purposes, PR consultancies, freelancers, in-house communications departments, digital agencies, and media owners.

Reasons for Disqualification

If the campaign was not developed in the region or delivered by an individual or team based in the region
If the campaign is not within the allocated time frames
Missed the submission deadline
The campaign is breaking the law or is inappropriate

Responsibility

It is the entrant’s responsibility to seek and ensure permission has been granted for the right to use the intellectual property of the brand or client entered.

Right to Refuse

The organisers can refuse entries which may offend or bring PRCA MENA or the industry into disrepute.

Campaign Eligibility

The campaign summited must have been created and implemented in the MENA Region from 01 September 2018 to 30 August 2019.

Who can submit?

Companies or individuals may submit entries on behalf of themselves or others.

How many Awards can you enter?

Organisations can submit multiple entries for all of the categories.

Submitting Your Entry

Entry Forms

We do not provide entry forms to enter, but we do suggest that the criteria above are followed for each category (view award category sections above).

Sourcing Data in the Entry Form

Each entry submission is up to 1000 words and should include the results of the campaign that has been entered. You can upload any supporting data, cuttings, testimonies, infographics, or video content to support your entry. The supporting documents are not mandatory but will support the judging panel to get a sound idea of the campaign submitted and the results. If these are submitted in a PowerPoint it must be no more than 10 slides.

All entries are required to have a 200-word entry summary. This is not counted in your 1000 word entry.
Entries and summaries should be sent to digitalawards@prca.mena.global and paid for online at prca.mena.global

Each entry should be saved with the company name and award category.

Tips for successful completion of your PRCA MENA Digital Award Entry

Select the award categories you wish to enter online at prca.mena.global
Show a clear and concise strategy & research overview
Execution and originality is key
Documented results and evaluation should be included
Meet the entry deadlines

Reasons to get lower scores

Not demonstrating results
Only showing the creative aspects
Not demonstrating a strategic rationale to support campaigns or activities undertaken

How your entry will be judged

All entries will be judged by an international judging panel of both in-house and agency Digital PR and communications professionals that have worked in the MENA region at some point during their careers.

If a judge has worked with or has an allegiance with an individual submitting an entry or worked on the campaign, they will be exempt from judging that category.

Judges will be looking for a clear strategy and research, execution, originality, and documented results and evaluation.

Each campaign entry will be judged on:

a) Strategy & Research (0 – 10)
b) Execution (0 – 10)
c) Originality (0 – 10)
d) Results and Evaluation (0 – 10)

Individual awards will be judged on.

a) Leadership (0 – 10)
b) Initiative and Character (0 – 10)
c) Client Performance (0 – 10)
d) Team and Industry Contribution (0 – 10)

Who sees your entry?

Only the PRCA MENA Digital Awards judges and the events team will see your entries. All judges will sign a confidentiality agreement prior to receiving your entries.

How are shortlists selected?

Judges review entries remotely. They each have their own secure login, showing only entries that they have been assigned.

The shortlist will be announced on Thursday, 7th November, 2019

How are winners selected?

Scoring will all be conducted online without any reference to other judges scores and based solely on the submission of the entrant. This will ensure the scores are unbiased and judges are not swayed by the opinions of other panel members. Each entry will be scored by at least 4 judges in total. The organisers will collate the individual scores and use the average marks given to initially decide the finalists and ultimately to determine the award winners.

How we avoid bias

Organisations participating in the judging process are encouraged to enter the awards but will excuse themselves from any discussion involving an organisation, individual, or campaign in which they have an interest.

Who’s in charge?

The Jury President’s decision is final.

Sensitive Information

The organisers reserve the right to publish submissions from the winners and shortlisted entrants. Where certain information is sensitive, such as budget figures, please mark ‘not for publication’.

Contact Us

For any questions or queries on the awards, please contact digitalawards@prca.mena.global.