Agency of the Year 2019 opens for entries

Calling all advertising agencies in Asia Pacific: get your best work recognised at Campaign Asia's Agency of the Year Awards, the most highly-esteemed awards programme for the industry in the region. 

The awards, now in their 26th year, recognise inspired leadership, management excellence, outstanding business performance and overall brilliance from across the Asia-Pacific advertising and communications industry. The competition recognises excellence in local markets through five seperate regional competitions, plus the overall Agency Network of the Year awards. 

On the back of industry feedback, we have made some changes to this year's awards, introducing new categories and making essential adjustments to others. You can find all the details below and on the AOY website. 

First things first, what are the deadlines?

Early bird entry deadline: 3 September 2019
Normal entry deadline: 3 October 2019
Late entry deadline: 10 October 2019

How do I enter?

Find the entry kit with all the guidelines for entry, including information on this year's changes, at aoyawards.com.

What's new for 2019? 

1. We have introduced the following three new regional categories:

• Consultancy of the Year
• Production Company of the Year
• Talent Development Program of the Year (replaces Talent Management Person/Team of the Year)

These cover the Australia/New Zealand, Greater China, Japan/Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia regions. Please check the respective region's category pages for more details.

2. We have also introduced six new categories that will be awarded at the Asia Pacific level: 

• Best Culture
• Performance Agency of the Year
• Best Place to Work
• Tech Agency of the Year
• Talent Development Program of the Year (replaces Talent Management Person/Team of the Year)
• Young Achiever of the Year

Please check the Asia Pacific category pages for more details. 

3. We have also made changes to two existing categories: 

• Agency Head of the Year — At the Asia Pacific award level, we have opened up the Agency Head award category to all disciplines, beyond Creative, Digital and Media agencies. Nominees can be from an agency brand, agency group or agency network and must hold a regional role (3 markets or more in a minimum of 2 regions).

• Mobile Marketing Agency of the Year — This category has been removed from all regions

4. Endorsements

We have made one change to the way entries must be endorsed. As of 2019, every entry must be endorsed, authorised and signed off by both your CFO and CEO on the last page of your entry submission paper. This should be included in the 10 pages of your written submission (not on an 11th page). A 'Digital Signature' can be accepted with the Letter of Endorsement to authorise this. 

5. Network of the year

For the Creative Network, Digital Network and Media Network categories, no entry submission paper will be required to submit. The organiser will contact the winner of the Creative, Media and Digital Network to provide a winner summary (100-150 words). This summary will be used and published to showcase the entry and information must be relevant to the submission. A win in each of the local markets for Creative, Digital and Media country awards will contribute points towards the respective overall Network of the Year category type.

A shortlist is drawn from the points accumulated, and up to 5 top scoring Agency Networks in each category will form each shortlist. The shortlist will be released, and the winners will be announced on the evening of the awards presentation gala event in Singapore.

6. Late entry fee

The late entry period is open for one week after the entry deadline. An additional fee of US$50 will be added to the normal entry fee for any entry submission received after the deadline of 3 October 2019 at 6pm HK time up to the final deadline on 10 October 2019 at 6pm HK time.

Top tips for an award-winning entry

1. Start preparing early. Past winners and judges alike stress the need to plan and prepare early. This might be the most obvious yet under-valued tip there is!
2. Read instructions carefully. Second to starting early, it’s imperative to follow simple format directions on your entry. Do not penalize yourself unnecessarily.
3. Know your story and refine it. Past AOY winners repeatedly emphasise the importance of sharing your agency’s story, and telling it clearly.