Frequently Asked Questions

What are the European Excellence Awards?

The European Excellence Awards are created to honour the most outstanding achievements of communications professionals in their field. The awards also provide an excellent networking forum for all attendees and take a comprehensive look at communications achievements across Europe.

Who is the host?

The awards are hosted by Communication Director, the Magazine for Corporate Communications and Public Relations in Europe. Communication Director is also a co-host of the esteemed European Communication Summit. Communication Director features news, opinion, studies, and introduces new European communications professionals.

How much is the entry fee?

The fee for the first nomination submitted is 240 Euros. For any additional applications, the cost is reduced to 190 Euros for each application. Please note that the prices exclude VAT. The application fee applies per project per category entered.

Who can apply?

The awards are open to public relations, communications brand building, and reputation management professionals from companies, consultancies, associations and NGOs, whose work has displayed exceptional talent and ability in 2008.

How many categories may I apply for?

Projects can be entered in more than one category, and it is possible to apply in as many categories as you are interested in. Please be aware that nominations for the "Accomplishment" category (numbers 1-3) have different application forms than categories 4-57.

What do I need to send in?

All submissions must be completed in English. Entered works must have been published after September 30 2008. Please note that the application forms for categories 1-3 differ from the applications for categories 4-57, which are identical. The application for each nomination must contain the following elements:

1. Completed application form. Please note that there are different application forms for categories 1-3, which can be found at www.excellence-awards.eu.
2. A document with a written text of at most 2000 characters (including spaces) with an outline of the project you are applying with, including strategy and results. In the same document, include in bullet points: a) Time frame of the project (Start, peak, end), b) Budget, c) Number of staff working on the project, d) Weblink to the project (if applicable), e) A summary of your project in one to two sentences of no more than 300 characters altogether.
3. Supporting material should be carefully selected to illustrate the main points and essence of your project. There is a limit of up to 3 documents (press kit = 1 document) or a 3 minute film/presentation. The supporting material may include, for example, planning documents, press releases, press kits, pictures, brochures, Powerpoint presentations of no more than 10 slides and any online material or other unique media.
4. Include one picture that best represents your project (e.g. cover of report, picture of your event, etc) which will be used to illustrate your project if it is shortlisted.

All entries should be made in hard copy and in digital form (for details on this please see www.excellence-awards.eu). Please be aware that all applications will be uploaded to the online intranet used by our jury. The submitted material can not be returned.

Hard copy

Please enter the application form and the text document in one copy, all printed supporting material like brochures or similar in three copies per project, (not more even if the project is entered for more categories). Original documents should not be submitted. All entry material should be carefully marked with the category, project title, name of the organisation and name of the consultancy.

Digital format

Please submit your application per email to (not more than 5 mb), on a CD or on a USB stick. The following formats can be accepted:

For text:

.pdf, .doc

For pictures:

.jpg/.jpeg,.gif, .png. (Ideally in print quality, 300dpi)

For videos/movies:

.mov, .flv, .avi, .mpg/.mpeg (no more than 200 mb)

For presentations:

.pdf .ppt (Ideally convert powerpoint into pdf. No more than 5 mb)

When is the deadline?

The postmarked deadline for all applications is October 9th, 2009. Postal applications that are received after October 16th, 2009 cannot be included. The final deadline for email applications has been extended to October 16th.

Who are the judges?

The jury is comprised of over 30 leading communications professionals from companies, agencies, and universities, as well as governmental spokespersons.

How will the entries be judged?

Upon receiving your application, we will first send you a confirmation of receipt by email. Thereafter, our jury will review all entries and choose the shortlist of five projects in each of the available categories. The winners will then be voted on anonymously. Criteria are: strategy, innovation, creativity, cost-efficiency, results.

Can the jury members nominate their own companies/agencies?

Companies or organisations of jury members may still enter the award competition. However, the juror is not allowed to take part in the judging process for their company or organisation.

When will the winners be presented with their awards?

The winners will be announced and presented with their awards at the European Excellence Awards gala ceremony on December 10th, 2009 in Vienna.

Can universities or institutions apply for the European Excellence Awards?

Yes, we encourage entries from universities and institutions, and would advise you to apply for any categories that you feel showcase your innovative approach.

Do I have to register for seats at the Gala at the same time?

No, you do not. You can register, but most entrants usually wait until after the shortlist is announced before booking their seats or tables for the Awards Ceremony.

Can I submit a campaign in more than one category?

Yes, that is not a problem. You can submit an entry into as many appropriate categories as you like, and you can (although you do not have to) tailor your supporting documents for each category, even if the campaign being entered is the same. However, you will have to fill in a separate application form for each entry into each category, and you will be charged per application form.

Can I submit articles in my native language?

You can submit publications in your native language to support your application, however we ask that all application material (the forms and the outline of the project) are submitted in English.

What do you mean by 2000 'characters'?

By characters, we mean all letters, spaces and punctuation marks. The easiest way to count these is to use the word count function in Microsoft Word, if you have access to it. As all texts are uploaded onto the jury intranet, and space is limited, texts will automatically be cut off after the 2000th character.

What do you mean by 'entered works must have been published after September 2008'?

Projects started before September 2008 will be considered for awards if they had their main roll-out and impact after this date. Projects completed before 30th September, 2008 will not be considered.

How do I pay the entry fee?

After we have received your application, we will send you an invoice for your application(s), complete with our bank details and instructions for transferring the money to us. You do not need to make payment before or at the same time as submitting your entries.

Do you give feedback on entries?

Unfortunately, due to the extraordinarily high number of entries we receive, coupled with the voting procedures used as a result of having such a large expert jury, we are not able to give individual feedback for entries.

I work for an agency and want to nominate a campaign we worked on for a client. How would that work?

If the agency/consultancy submits the nomination, it would be the agency who would win the award, not the client. However, if the client nominates the campaign, then the client wins the award, however the agency/consultancy is obviously mentioned.