Categories
Please see the following descriptions for information on each category.
For more information on how to enter, submission guidelines and entry fees, please click here.
CAMPAIGN AWARDS
Every sector and vertical is different, not just in terms of competition, but in the tactics and strategies required to stand out from the crowd and achieve goals. In each sector, judges will be looking for the thinking and approach specific to the needs of the sector and the client's goals and how results were met or exceeded.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Retail
Enter Now
This category recognises a stand-out retail campaign that has engaged audiences and driven them to click save and check-out!
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Finance
Enter Now
This category recognises a stand-out campaign that has informed and mobilised audiences in the financial sector. Judges understand the rules and limitations in this sector, so it is important that entrants show innovative implementation in the delivery of message.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Travel/Leisure
Enter Now
This category recognises a campaign that has achieved 5* results in the travel and leisure industry and includes international and local travel, guides, visitor attractions and food and drink industry.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Entertainment/Sports
Enter Now
This category recognises marketing and advertising in the entertainment/sports area and includes film, gaming and sport branding.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Third Sector
Enter Now
This category recognises marketing campaigns that engage audiences and lead to action for the benefit of third-sector companies including charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Public Sector
Enter Now
This category recognises marketing campaigns dedicated to the promotion of public sector institutions including health, schools, parks and transport.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Health and Beauty
Enter Now
Mental and physical wellness is at the heart of this category that recognises campaigns across wellbeing and beauty, whether that is for retails sales or call to action.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Education
Enter Now
This category is dedicated to recognising campaigns across the Education sector including schools, colleges, nurseries and further education agencies and support initiatives.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Automotive
Enter Now
Judges are looking for campaigns that highlight innovation and effective strategies employed by automotive brands, agencies, or organisations to promote vehicles, enhance brand presence, engage customers, or drive sales.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Real Estate
Enter Now
This category celebrates campaigns that are catching the eye to engage potential buyers or renters, and drive sales or leases.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Hospitality
Enter Now
The North is renowned for its hospitality sector this category celebrates digital campaigns that from hotels, restaurants, food and drink outlets, and events that have hosted, wined, dined and partied to success.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Healthcare
Enter Now
This campaign category recognises the outstanding campaigns created for healthcare, including medicine, tech and services.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Fashion
Enter Now
Fashion runs through Northern veins, this category celebrates campaigns that have turned heads when it comes to clothing and style.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Home & Garden
Enter Now
Home and garden purchases are close to everyone's heart and, with competition fierce, this category recognises stand-out campaigns in home furnishing and garden essentials and luxuries.
New to 2025 - Best Digital Marketing Campaign - Property & Construction
Enter Now
Whether promoting residential developments, commercial projects, or construction services, this category honours those who excel in capturing attention and driving success in the property and construction market.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign - FMCG
Enter Now
In the fast-moving consumer goods environment, this category recognises a marketing campaign that has kept pace with the market and delivered results that exceeded expectation.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – B2B
Enter Now
Business to Business campaigns can make all the difference when it comes to building relationships. Judges want to understand audience and objectives, in relation to results and profits.
Best Digital Marketing Campaign – B2C
Enter Now
Business-to-consumer campaigns are all about targeting the audience with messaging that achieves goals. Judges are looking for clear objectives that resulted in great ROI.
Best Affiliate Campaign
Enter Now
Affiliate marketing plays a huge role in the growth and success of many brands. Judges are looking for a campaign demonstrating an effective, innovative use of affiliate marketing to deliver real results and ROI. This may be a campaign that is either agency driven or an affiliate marketer who has built a campaign delivering excellent results
Best Low Budget Campaign
Enter Now
Not all clients have huge budgets, but it is not about how much you have to spend, it is about how you spend it wisely! Judges are looking for stand out campaigns delivering excellent results within a budget of £1500 per month.
Best Integrated Campaign
Enter Now
We live in a converging world and taking an integrated approach is often the answer to drive real, measurable results and ROI. Judges are looking for campaigns that are truly integrated making use of a number of different channels to deliver exceptional results.
Best PPC Campaign
Enter Now
The increased technological influence, the use of scripts and feeds, and ability to target individuals over keywords has transformed PPC as an advertising channel. Judges are looking for campaigns, where businesses have made the most of the new innovations for maximum effect.
Best SEO Campaign
Enter Now
Whether you’ve achieved huge results with a piece of content or dominated the landscape with some technical wizardry, Judges would like to see a campaign that is innovative, creative and adaptable that deserves the title of Best SEO Campaign.
Best Use of AI in a Digital Campaign
Enter Now
This award recognises exceptional digital campaigns that have effectively integrated AI technologies including machine learning, natural language processing, predictive analytics or AI-driven personalisation to achieve outstanding results.
New to 2025 - Best Use of Data & Insights
Enter Now
Data and insights are the power that drives all digital campaigns. Judges want to see how you used yours to drive your campaign to achieve results.
Best Use of Social Media
Enter Now
Social media dominates our lives and also provides exceptional opportunities to promote, market and influence. Judges are looking for a standout social campaign with clear objectives, exceptionally creative, clever implementation and incredible results that set it apart from the competition.
Best Use of Video
Enter Now
Compelling and engaging video can transform a digital campaign and deliver exceptional results. Judges are looking for a campaign that has video at its heart, is creative, understands its target audience, is watchable, has delivered impressive results and views.
New to 2025 - Best Podcast
Enter Now
In this category judges will be looking at how your podcast connected with your target audience and how your business and wider industry benefits from your investment.
New to 2025 - Best Collaboration with a Content Creator
Enter Now
Judges want to reward innovative and effective campaigns where content creators play a pivotal role in achieving the campaign's objectives.
Best Collaboration with an Influencer
Enter Now
This category acknowledges campaigns where influencers were key to reaching target audiences, building engagement, and driving tangible outcomes.
INNOVATION & SOFTWARE AWARDS
Innovative and ground-breaking software and tools are making the digital industry agile and content work quicker, faster, and better.
Best Website
Enter Now
Judges are looking for a website that epitomises fantastic design, great user experience and most of all has helped the business it serves. The website could be a brand-new build or work that a company has done to improve an existing site and should demonstrate the impact that it has had.
Best eCommerce Website
Enter Now
eCommerce is a huge and influential sector in the North. Judges are looking to recognise a website build or refresh from the last 12 months that delivers significant sales, has great functionality and UX, good on-site search facility, demonstrates high CRO and exceptional user experience.
Best AI Software Solution
Enter Now
This category recognises outstanding achievements in the development and implementation of artificial intelligence-powered software solutions.
Judges will be looking for solutions that not only leverage the latest AI technologies but also demonstrate a profound understanding of user needs, industry challenges, and the potential for transformative impact.
Best App
Enter Now
Apps are an essential part of everyday life, from travel to health to music or games. Judges are looking for an innovative app which was developed within the past 12 months, met clear objectives, had creative and innovative implementation, has a great UX, an impressive number of downloads. The app can be on either the IOS or Android operating systems.
Best Martech
Enter Now
This category recognises companies who have built or are marketing platforms that marketers and agencies can buy off the shelf or tailor for their use, that span data, digital and marcomms through to experiential and outdoor. From enhancing analysis and interpretation of customer data to knowledge systems, customer acquisition services, programmatic buying, video storage platforms and the next big new idea/s, this category allows innovative companies in the North to publicise their marketing wares.
Best Digital Tool or Software
Enter Now
Digital tools and software are essential to monitor, evaluate, plan and execute in today’s competitive digital environment. Judges are looking for the essential, go-to and revolutionary tool that enables you to deliver incredible results.
CULTURE AWARDS
The culture awards recognise and celebrate companies who share values, care for, and nurture their workforce, offer career development, reward good work and create a workplace environment that is beyond just an office space, even when remote.
Best Charitable/Corporate Social Responsibility Award
Enter Now
This category and award recognize the work that agencies and in-house teams do to support their local community or charity of choice in the North.
Best Inclusion and Diversity Initiative
Enter Now
Judges are looking to recognize an organization that celebrated inclusion and diversity and that demonstrates policy day in and day out to positively impact on individuals and company culture.
Best Agency Culture
Enter Now
Shared values, care, nurture, career development and a workplace that inspires innovation, commitment and success. The team that works together and plays together is sure to reap the rewards.
AGENCY, TEAM AWARDS & INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
The agency/team categories are based on employee count and service offerings. In all categories, the judges will be looking for revenue figures, staff turnover and culture as well as the agency demonstrating creative implementations and achieving excellent ROI for their clients. At least one of the case studies submitted to support this entry should also be entered into at least one of the campaign categories.
New to 2025 - Digital Freelancer of the Year
Enter Now
Judges will be celebrating the work of freelancers who have demonstrated creativity and innovation to contribute to clients' success.
Emerging Talent Award
Enter Now
This Award recognises a stand-out individual who is setting standards within an agency or team and for the greater northern digital industry. Judges are looking to award creative and passionate digital marketer under the age of 30 on 28 January 2024 who has an exciting and bright future.
New to 2025 - New Agency to Watch
Enter Now
This category spotlights new agencies that are making a significant impact and taking the digital marketing space by storm. Agency entries need to be up to 2 years or under.
New to 2025 - Best B-Corp Agency of the Year
Enter Now
This category celebrates agencies that are committed to Bcorp values and becoming the very best socially and environmentally conscious versions of themselves.
New to 2025 - PR Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Judges are looking to recognise PR agencies who deliver exceptional coverage for clients through a range of strategic communications, creative campaigns and effective media relations.
Social Media Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of an agency that has produced incredible results through the use of Social Media and who show creativity and innovation that showcases best practice.
Digital Marketing In-House Team of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a digital in-house team that produces fantastic results and has made a positive contribution to their business.
Search Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a specialist search agency that has produced fantastic results and has made a positive contribution to their clients and the Search industry.
Integrated Search Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a specialist integrated agency that has produced fantastic results through the use of multiple channels on their way to success and who benchmark for the future.
CRO / UX Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a specialist CRO and UX agency that has delivered outstanding results through strategic optimisation and user-centred design practices.
Best Small Digital Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a small digital marketing agency (25 or under employees) that has produced fantastic results and has made a positive contribution to the industry.
Best Medium Digital Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a small digital marketing agency (up to 26-50 employees) that has produced fantastic results and has made a positive contribution to the industry.
Best Large Digital Agency of the Year
Enter Now
Recognition of a large digital marketing agency (51 or more employees) that has produced fantastic results and has made a positive contribution to the industry.
Our Event Sponsors & Partners
Testimonials
"The awards ceremony reminds us how strong digital performance is in the north of the UK and it’s great to have this recognised at an event. As an agency, it’s great to come together with agencies and businesses from the north to recognise some of the fantastic work completed over the last 12 months and celebrate in true northern style!"
Cedarwood Digital
"The Northern Digital Awards is a highly anticipated event that celebrates the outstanding achievements of digital marketing agencies across the North of England. Simul Digital’s nominations across multiple categories highlight our expertise and dedication to excellence. We are proud to have been shortlisted for the following awards: Best PPC Campaign, Best Ecommerce Website, and Best Small Digital Agency of the Year."
Simul Digital
"We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a finalist across all six of the categories we entered. outbloom was created as an accessible solution for brands looking for innovative solutions and experienced partners for their performance marketing. This is the first time we have entered the Northern Digital Awards since founding outbloom, so to be shortlisted against our peers, many of which we know personally is a true testament to our values and success over the past 18 months. We couldn’t be more proud to be shortlisted, and are looking forward to awards night (we all know Northerner’s know how to party!)"
outbloom
“We couldn’t be prouder to be shortlisted for the third year on the trot, and especially when we have secured a place on the shortlist in four award categories! We take these awards very seriously and always find it rewarding to be recognised independently for the hard work that we as a team, together with our partners put in day in day out. Whilst the wider market conditions have been challenging over the last twelve months, we have managed to deliver another record breaking year and we can never underestimate the contribution of our partners to our continued success. We’re looking forward to attending the Northern Digital Awards together with our Northern based partners and hopefully toasting a victory!”
Paul Thompson Face the Future
“It’s amazing to be shortlisted for the Northern Digital Awards for the third year in a row. As a proud Yorkshireman and Northern company, we’re delighted to be shortlisted alongside the best campaigns and digital business’ in the North. Being recognised shows the power of teamwork, with Face the Future’s performance continuing to positively trend against the market, which is seeing negative growth. We’re looking forward to attending the Northern Digital Awards with the team from Face the Future and Green Ginger Digital. Good luck to everyone that has been shortlisted!”
First Digital
Shortlist Announcement!
Days
00
Hours
00
Mins
00
Secs
00