Judging Criteria

Judging session – 13th November 2024

Shortlist announcement – 15th November 2024

Judges will read and pre-score all entry forms, considering any supporting materials submitted. Judges will be asked to give a score for each question within the entry form, as listed in the bullet points below. These will be combined to give an overall score for each entry. All judges’ pre-scores will then be combined, and the highest-scoring entries will determine the shortlists.

Judges will meet to discuss the highest-scoring entries and then agree on the winner for each category.

The awards will be judged by some of the biggest names in search. Click here to see this year’s judging panel.

Entries should not exceed 1000 words and should relate to work undertaken between June 2023 – October 2024.

CAMPAIGN/PRODUCT AWARDS

Objective(s) & budget (1-10 points)

Tell us what you were looking to achieve from the campaign and any targets that were set. We recommend showing targets as quantifiable metrics e.g., ‘Increase conversions from 150 to 300 a month’ rather than ‘increased conversions by 10%’.

Please include a breakdown of implementation costs, staffing costs, agency fees etc. All elements of the entry form are confidential, and judges will not share this information. If you are unable to provide a detailed budget breakdown, please include the financial band your budget is within along with the percentage budget allocated for staffing costs, agency fees and media spend etc.

Target audience & strategy (1-10 points)

Please provide us with details about the audience you were targeting and your overall strategy to reach them as well as the strategy to meet the overall objectives.

Implementation & creativity (1-10 points)

Please give us a detailed explanation of your implementation of the campaign. Include screenshots to help us visualise campaigns. Provide information on the creativity of the campaign.

Details of any challenges faced and how these were overcome (1-10 points)

What challenges were unique to you and how have you overcome them? What was the end result of overcoming these challenges?

Results & evaluation (1-10 points)

Please relate these to the objectives and targets stated above. Provide actual numbers rather than percentages wherever possible.

Why should your campaign win? (1-10 points)

What do you think sets your campaign apart from the other campaigns being judged? Judges will in particular be looking for the thing that makes this campaign different to the others, what is unique?

URLs

Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.

Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.

DIGITAL TOOL/SOFTWARE/PLATFORM AWARDS

Overview of Innovation/Software/Product

Please provide the judges with a synopsis of what the tool does and how it adds value to the end user.

Total budget

Please include costs associated with running the innovation/software/product and how much you intend to or do sell the innovation/software/product for.

Existing problems and target audience (1-10 points)

Please include details outlining the problems that this innovation/software/product solves and how if at all these problems were previously dealt with. Entrants should detail who the target customers or users of this product are.

USP and Features (1-10 points)

Please outline what is the innovation/software/product’s unique proposition. Entrants should highlight the major features that are unique to the product/software or innovation which help solve a customer problem or benefit the customer positively.

Key Metrics (1-10 points)

Please detail what key metrics have you used to measure whether this innovation, software or product is successful. I.e., does it save money, make things faster, and generate more revenue?

Why should your Innovation, Software or Product win? (1-10 points)

What single thing about your innovation, software or product is not done by anyone else? What makes it stand out to be award-worthy?

URLs

Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.

Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.

AGENCY/TEAM/RISING STAR AWARDS

Overview of the Agency/Team/Rising Star nominee

Please include numbers, staff turnover, roles etc for agency and team nominations or current and previous job roles etc for Rising Star nominations

Agency/Team/Rising Star objectives (1-10 points)

Tell us what you were looking to achieve and any targets that have been set within the agency or team to help achieve your goals. We recommend showing targets as quantifiable metrics e.g., ‘Increase conversions from 150 to 300 a month’ rather than ‘Increase conversions by 10%’.

Recent work example(s) (1-10 points)

Please include details of recent client or campaign work. How does your recent work display creativity and make your team or agency stand out amongst others?

Details of any recent achievements (1-10 points)

What makes your team or agency stand out? Please include details of any achievements you feel make your agency or team award-worthy. What are you proud of?

Details of any challenges faced and how these were overcome (1-10 points)

What challenges were unique to you and how have you overcome them? What was the end result of overcoming these challenges?

Why should your Agency/Team/Rising Star win? (1-10 points)

Please detail what you feel makes you stand out amongst others and why you feel your entry is award-winning. What makes you unique? What gives you the competitive edge?

URLs

Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.

Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.

CULTURE AWARDS

Details of culture initiatives (1-10 points)

e.g., flexible working, holiday schemes, training and development, incentive schemes, rewards packages, CSR and volunteering initiatives. Judges will be looking for details on how the agency/business/team unify their culture to align with the business’s overall core values.

Details of any challenges faced and how these were overcome (1-10 points)

What challenges were unique to you and how have you overcome them? What was the end result of overcoming these challenges?

Evidence positive impact/results culture/policy/initiative (1-10 points)

e.g., increased productivity, staff retention, staff promotion and development Please relate these to the objective(s) stated above. What impact do your initiatives have on the employees and overall business? Results must be tangible with clear examples and testimonials where possible to support the results. Please provide actual numbers rather than percentages wherever possible.

Why should you win this award? (1-10 points)

What do you think sets your campaign apart from the other campaigns being judged? Judges will in particular be looking for the thing that makes this campaign different to the others, what is unique?

URLs

Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.

Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.

Please note if you’re unable to provide a login, please contact [email protected].

Confidentiality

All material will remain confidential to the judges. All judging discussions are confidential and will not be shared or discussed with anyone outside of the judging panel ahead of the ceremony or thereafter. Judges will not share confidential material, judging papers or entries with anyone. Judges will securely delete all judging materials immediately after the judging period or give materials to the Don’t Panic team who will manage this. Judges can only access entries that they have been provided to score.

Winning case studies may be used in post-event materials to promote best practices and permission will be sought from entrants before publishing these.

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Testimonials

"The entry process itself was easy and intuitive; the platform was simple to use, and it didn’t take long to submit our entries. In terms of impact on the business, it has been significant – of course, our entire team was delighted to be recognised, but being shortlisted has also been noticed by existing and prospective clients alike, who often comment to us on the many updates they read about on LinkedIn."
Cantarus
“The Northern Digital Awards showcases some absolutely phenomenal northern talent and we’re proud to not only stand beside them as nominees but to come out victorious for not one, but two awards. Such an amazing start to the year and something First Internet is incredibly proud of.”
First Internet
"YouWe UK are delighted to have been crowned winners at the Northern Digital Awards 2023 for the Best eCommerce Website. The awards ceremony really was a real reminder of how strong the digital sector is within the North of England."
YouWe
“When the affiliate programme was launched in 2021, Threadbare wasn’t a recognised brand name. The shortlisting for the Northern Digital Awards is amazing recognition for the achievements already made, in such a short space of time.” Dave Trolle, Founder
Customer First Digital
“As one of Yorkshire’s longest-standing creative digital marketing agencies, it’s an honour to be representing our county at this year’s Northern Digital Awards”
Sowdens
"We've both had the pleasure of being nominated, winning, and celebrating these awards throughout our careers. Working together as partners, we're excited to celebrate the North together." Justin Clark and Lee Benecke
SocialNorth
“As a Northern business, the team are incredibly proud to have collectively contributed to growth across the company. Entering the awards allows them to share and celebrate their successes together and share their story with the other business owners and entrepreneurs that have inspired them.”
Face the Future
“The Northern Digital Awards are a great way to celebrate success and best practice in the Digital sector in the North. The trustworthiness of these awards makes them a reliable way for organisations to present themselves to their professional community, and future customers and clients of these businesses can rely on the integrity of an award as a mark of quality.” David Edmundson-Bird, Faculty Lead in AI
Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
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