Industry awards are brilliant money spinners these days. People pay to enter, which can cover the organisers’ costs. Then they shell out the big bucks for a seat on the night of the awards do, and you’re quids in.

I’m not saying it’s an easy job to organise industry awards, but it isn’t a complicated formula for profit. Especially when you go for quantity over quality, by offering low barriers to entry (e.g many niche categories to enter). It is no surprise that industry awards are now a dime a dozen, and that people are starting to regard the use of the words “award winning” on websites with a pinch of salt (I make a point of not being impressed until I’ve checked which awards the company has actually won!).

I’m not bitter, I promise (I’ve not yet won an award, despite having made been shortlisted - and we all know “it’s an honour just to be shortlisted”). The thing is, I’ve been judging marketing awards for around seven years now, and I know what goes on behind the scenes of awards with integrity.

Northern Marketing Awards

When Nick Jaspan asked me to help judge the brand new Northern Marketing Awards back in 2012, I was very flattered and super excited to work my way through the brilliant entries to pre-score them. On judging day I had serious impostor syndrome, sitting alongside some true marketing veterans and finding myself sometimes disagreeing with them and having to argue my opinions to help find the worthy winners.

I was delighted to be asked back year after year, even judging the Northern Digital Awards a couple of years as well. I’ve learned a lot from these experiences and from sifting through hundreds of awards entries in the process.

But one of the biggest things I’m sure about now, is that not all awards are created equal.

Integrity and industry awards

As a business that has ethics at the heart, it is of crucial importance to me that I spend my time working on projects that align with my values. And that is why - at a time when industry awards are sometimes seen as an empty accolade - it is with pride that I’m judging the Northern Marketing Awards for the seventh time this year. Integrity is at the heart of the process of selecting the winners.

Here’s more or less how it works. Judges are sent all the entries of a few categories each to pre-score based on set criteria which the entrants are aware of. As judges we do this stage in isolation; we don’t know who else is on the panel for each category. The scores are sent to the team at Prolific North/Don’t Panic who work out the averages and rank the entries accordingly.

On judging day, we get together in person and talk through each category. Those panels who have pre-scored each category lead the discussion and put the case forward for their favourites, with the rest of us asking questions and sometimes playing devil’s advocate.

Judges are asked beforehand about any personal interests that could compromise their objectivity. If you have declared an interest, you do not get to see the pre-scores for the relevant category, and you are asked to leave the room while it is discussed.

For example, this happened to me while my husband worked for a Manchester digital agency who was up for an award. I sat outside the room with no idea how their entry was pre-scored, as this information was left out of my pack. And when I re-entered the room after the winner was decided there was no clue as to how the judges have decided. No winks or thumbs up/down, no notes passed, nothing. Poker faces.

That’s how it should be!

Enter the awards

So if you have done some marketing work that you’re proud of in the last year, I would definitely recommend you enter the Northern Marketing Awards. The extended deadline for entries is this Friday, September 13th and it costs £150. The awards evening is on November 21st at the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester and it’s always a great night attended by about 400 marketing people. It’s billed as a great networking opportunity - and it is - but I go because it’s a fun event with cool people celebrating truly exceptional marketing work in the North.

And of course I get to channel my inner Oscar presenter on stage when I slowly open an envelope, pause dramatically and then announce the worthy winners!