Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 21.10.2026 
The entry form is your chance to turn great results into industry recognition and award-winning success. Whether your campaign ran in one market or across several, here are 8 simple steps to make your submission stand out to the judges.
7 Easy Tips to Impress the Judges
1. Start with clear objectives.
Define your KPIs, data that defined your target audience, and strategy from the start. Judges love entries that show you knew exactly where you were heading and what success looked like before you started.
2. Tell a story, not just stats.
Bring your campaign to life. Show the challenge, the idea, and the impact, and make it engaging enough to be remembered. Judges are humans, so don’t hand them AI-generated answers. They want the real story, in your own voice.
3. Prove performance with data.
Back up your claims with solid results. Include the metrics that matter, such as ROAS, CPA, CTR, conversion uplift, incremental revenue and market share, and link them clearly to your goals. Give context too: benchmarks, previous performance or a control group show what you actually achieved.
4. Highlight innovation.
Whether it’s testing new formats, using AI and automation, building smarter measurement, or nailing audience segmentation, show how you went beyond best practice to deliver something special.
5. Make it easy to read.
Keep it concise (don’t exceed the word count), focused and well structured. Judges review a lot of entries, so make yours easy to score against the criteria and memorable.
6. Credit your team and partners.
Recognise collaboration and expertise. Great paid and performance media is a team sport, and testimonials work wonders.
7. Finish with impact.
End strong. Summarise your success, your learnings, and why your work deserves to win. Remember what your objectives were and tie your results back to them.
Our top tip: think like a judge.
Be clear, be honest, and show how your campaign delivered measurable, meaningful results. That’s what wins awards, every time.
Next Steps
Download your entry form here.
Meet the Organisers
Founded in 2005, Don’t Panic owns and delivers its own portfolio of established awards programmes around the world. All of our Awards are accredited by the Awards Trust Mark.
