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 awards ceremony reminds us how strong digital performance is in the north of the UK and it’s great to have this recognised at an event. As an agency, it’s great to come together with agencies and businesses from the north to recognise some of the fantastic work completed over the last 12 months and celebrate in true northern style!"
Cedarwood Digital
"The Northern Digital Awards is a highly anticipated event that celebrates the outstanding achievements of digital marketing agencies across the North of England. Simul Digital’s nominations across multiple categories highlight our expertise and dedication to excellence. We are proud to have been shortlisted for the following awards: Best PPC Campaign, Best Ecommerce Website, and Best Small Digital Agency of the Year."
Simul Digital
"We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a finalist across all six of the categories we entered. outbloom was created as an accessible solution for brands looking for innovative solutions and experienced partners for their performance marketing. This is the first time we have entered the Northern Digital Awards since founding outbloom, so to be shortlisted against our peers, many of which we know personally is a true testament to our values and success over the past 18 months. We couldn’t be more proud to be shortlisted, and are looking forward to awards night (we all know Northerner’s know how to party!)"
outbloom
“We couldn’t be prouder to be shortlisted for the third year on the trot, and especially when we have secured a place on the shortlist in four award categories! We take these awards very seriously and always find it rewarding to be recognised independently for the hard work that we as a team, together with our partners put in day in day out. Whilst the wider market conditions have been challenging over the last twelve months, we have managed to deliver another record breaking year and we can never underestimate the contribution of our partners to our continued success. We’re looking forward to attending the Northern Digital Awards together with our Northern based partners and hopefully toasting a victory!” Paul Thompson
Face the Future
“It’s amazing to be shortlisted for the Northern Digital Awards for the third year in a row. As a proud Yorkshireman and Northern company, we’re delighted to be shortlisted alongside the best campaigns and digital business’ in the North. Being recognised shows the power of teamwork, with Face the Future’s performance continuing to positively trend against the market, which is seeing negative growth. We’re looking forward to attending the Northern Digital Awards with the team from Face the Future and Green Ginger Digital. Good luck to everyone that has been shortlisted!”
First Digital
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