How to Win - Research magazine AwardsAdvice from the Judging Panel: The judges follow the criteria closely and refer to them during a session. Make sure you read the What the judges are looking for sections and that they are all covered off. There is usually an 'in particular the judges will look for' section. This is exactly the case, so make sure this section is addressed well in your submission. Testimonials are very important but must be attributable to a named individual. The judges have a lot of material to get through. Set out your submissions clearly using bullet points, quotes and sub-headings. Make sure the judges attention is draw to what you perceive as your strongest points. Make it look good. Of course, content is king but well presented content can make a huge difference if the decision is tight - and it usually is. Try to put some of your organisations' personality into the submission. Researchers and research aren't bland (at least award winners aren't) so make sure your submissions reflect some of the passion, intelligence and innovation in your work. Many of the panel members are from the client side. If you work with them, they will declare an interest and although they may know what you can do day in day out, the judges will judge you on the merits of your submission. No matter how good you might be day to day, if the submission is weak, you won't win. Some specificsBest agency - don't be over modest. If you've done well shout about it. The figures might speak for themselves but what have they meant for your business, how has strong financial performance impacted on the other parts of your business - staff development, R&D, adding value to clients. What have you done to champion the industry - are you an active ambassador for MR? Best new agency - ok, so you've broken away and taken a few clients with you. Looks good in the figures from a standing start but what is the business really doing to bring something fresh to MR. Best place to work - please no more duvet days - ok mention them if you must. Of course the workplace should be an enjoyable place and this should come across in submissions. But this is about a serious commitment to your people, their development and growth as professionals. Given the current economic climate, it will be particularly challenging but continued investment in staff development and broadening skills both within and beyond MR will be important. Encouraging development beyond MR and developing more commercial thinking is also important. The judges pay particular attention to the comments from your people in this category - make them strong and positive but also plausible. Business transformation - before you enter, please make sure that what you did really did help to transform a business. Judges scrutinise these carefully and need to see the research / insight as the driver and not just a bystander in the transformation process. Demonstrate how the findings of the research led directly to the transformation. Client comments also play well here. Research breakthrough - ask yourself is it really a breakthrough or just incremental change. We had a lot of the latter last year and this year we are looking for something that has - or has the potential - to really shake up the market. Remember, the panel are experienced professionals with strong commercial credentials. They see a lot of agencies and hear a lot of pitches. They need to be impressed. Make sure it's well written, well presented, backed up with quotes, statistics and examples and literally jumps off the page. Invariably, the winners are the ones where the judges say at the start of a category - 'this one really stood out for me'. That's what you need to aspire to. Good luck with your submissions. We look forward to reading all your entries 
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