Effie entries are judged by some of the brightest and most experienced business leaders. We draw on their experience to not only judge the work of their peers but to highlight learning for the industry overall.  Entries are judged in two phases: 
 
Round One Judges individually review 8-12 cases across a range of categories. Cases that score high enough become finalists and move on to Final Round Judging. 
 
Final Round Judges review all finalists within a category and discuss each case before finalizing scores.
   
In both rounds, judges evaluate the written case and creative executions. Scoring is done anonymously and confidentially. Judges provide feedback on each case for the Insight Guide.​

Grand Effie Judging
The Grand Effie represents the single best case entered in a given year. There will likely be something 'breakthrough' about it with the express purpose and proven capability of delivering outstanding effectiveness.

As the Grand Jury is so senior and they express their collective opinion, the winning case represents both the most effective case of the year and a message that will be sent to the industry about learnings for the way forward. Only a select number of the highest-scoring gold winning cases are considered contenders for the Grand Effie award.

Confidentiality 
Judging events are held in secure locations led by Effie moderators. All judges are required to sign confidentiality agreements before judging begins. Judges cannot remove materials from the judging session and are specifically matched with cases that do not prove a conflict of interest. For example, a judge with an automotive background would not review automotive cases. For this reason, it is critical that entrants provide market and category context in their entries. Give judges a clear understanding of the category situation and explain what your KPIs mean in the context of your category. 

Scoring Criteria
Judges are asked to evaluate a case's effectiveness using the following scoring system:

Challenge, Context & Objectives......23.3%
Insights & Strategic Idea......................23.3%
Bringing the Idea to Life.......................23.3%
Results.....................................................30%

The judges’ scores determine which entries will be finalists and which finalists are awarded a gold, silver, or bronze Effie trophy. The finalist level and each winning level – gold, silver, bronze – have minimum scores required in order to be eligible for finalist status or for an award. Effie trophies are awarded in each category at the discretion of the judges.  It is possible that a category may produce one or multiple winners of any level or perhaps no winners at all – no matter the number of finalists. 

To honour even more great work, efforts can be entered into a maximum of four categories. Of those four categories, only one category submission may be
an Industry category. You are not required to enter an Industry category, however you must adhere to a maximum 4 category rule per effort.

Each entry should be customized to speak to the specifics of each entered category whenever applicable. Judges are often frustrated & express difficulty in effectively evaluating a case when an entry wasn’t tailored for the entered category.

You will need to complete a separate entry form and pay the entry fee for each additional category.

The Effie Awards reserves the right to re-categorize entries, split/redefine categories and/or refuse entry any at any time. Test market entries are not eligible for the Effie Awards Denmark competition.

INDUSTRY CATEGORIES

There are 4 industry categories to choose from. Category definitions provide guidance regarding the types of products/services that may enter that category; however, it is not an exclusive list.

SPECIALTY CATEGORIES

The Specialty Categories are designed to address a specific business situation or challenge. There are 16 specialty categories in all.

When entering into any of these categories, you should present your entry in a way that addresses the situation or challenge as outlined in the category definition. It is critical to thoroughly review these category definitions to ensure your effort meets the criteria of the specific category definition. Judges will down score your entry if you are missing information required by the category definition. 

The following will result in disqualification and entry fees will be forfeited:

Failing to adhere to the Effie Eligibility rules. Data presented must be isolated to Denmark, and the Effie eligibility period is 1/4/20-31/3/22*. No results after 31/3/22 may be included. Data prior to the eligibility period may be included for context. *See the Eligibility section for further details & special exceptions.

Entry does not meet category definition requirements. Entries are judged based on effectiveness within the entered category.

Agency names/logos published in the entry form or in the creative materials. Effie is an agency-blind competition; no agency names should be included in the materials that judges will review (entry form, investment overview, creative reel, creative images). Do not include any agency names in your sources – this includes agency names other than your own. The source of data should be referenced as “Agency Research,” “PR Agency Research,” “Media Agency Research,” etc.

Data not sourced. All data, claims, facts, etc. presented anywhere in the entry form must reference a specific, verifiable source. Sources must be as specific as possible in documenting all evidence, while not citing specific agency names. Provide source of data, type of research, and the time period covered. The Entry Portal is set up to encourage sourcing via footnotes. Refer to the “sourcing data” page for more information.

Directing Judges to External Websites. Entrants are judged solely on the materials presented in their written entry and creative examples (creative reel + images). Entrants are not permitted to direct judges to websites for further information or for further examples of work.

Violating Creative Example (Reel, Images) Rules. Entrants must follow all creative rules as outlined in the entry kit. This includes but is not limited to: competitor logos/creative work and results may not be included in the creative examples; time limits must be followed. See full rules, including guidelines on editing and content, in the Creative Requirements section of the entry kit. 

Be direct and concise. Present your story in an easy-to-follow style with minimum hyperbole. The link between the strategic challenge, the objectives, big idea, the creative executions, and results should be clear.

Be compelling. Your entry should be stimulating to read. Share your story with passion and personality – with facts to back it up.

Include clear, simple, relevant charts and tables. If done correctly, charts and tables allow judges to easily assess the success of the marketing initiative.

Proofread.  Ask a strong writer to review your case for spelling, grammar, logic flow, and mathematical errors.

Know the rules. Review the formatting requirements, entry requirements, and the Reasons for Disqualification before submitting your entry.  

Provide context.  Identify the competitive landscape.  Context is key.  Do not assume that the judges reviewing your entry are aware of the marketplace ins and outs of your particular category. Be sure to provide a clear picture of the marketplace situation, category and competitive context.  Judges frequently down score entries that fail to give this context as it is not possible to evaluate the significance of the objectives set or results achieved without it.

Tell judges why it was successful. For every objective provide clear, sourced results and provide context for judges to judge those results and objectives. Restate your objectives and KPIs in the results section.  For example, what was spend for your brand in the prior year, for the competition, etc.? What were results prior year vs. now for your brand and the competitive landscape, etc.?  Explain the significance of your results – what did they mean to the brand?

Eliminate other factors that could have led to the success of the brand.  Prove that it was the marketing communications effort that led to the results presented in the case.

Effie Worldwide is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that stands for effectiveness in marketing, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the drivers of marketing effectiveness. In order to help fulfill this mission and provide learning to the industry, Effie relies on entrants’ willingness to share their finalist and winning case studies with the industry.

By providing permission to publish your written case, you are:

Bettering the industry: By allowing other marketers to learn from your success, you are inspiring the industry to raise the bar and make their marketing better.

Bettering the future leaders of our industry: Colleges and universities use Effie case studies in their courses, and Collegiate Effie participants learn how to write their own effective submissions by learning from yours.

Showcasing your team’s success in achieving one of the top marketing honors of the year: Effie wins help attract new talent, prove the importance of marketing in business, and strengthen agency-client relationships.

We respect that entries may have information deemed confidential. Within the Entry Portal, entrants are asked to set publishing permission for the written entry. Entrants may select from the following options: 

• PUBLISH AS THE CASE WAS SUBMITTED: You agree that the written entry form may be published as it was submitted and reproduced or displayed for educational purposes. 
• PUBLISH AN EDITED VERSION OF THE WRITTEN CASE: You agree to submit an edited version of your case study for publication which will be reproduced or displayed for educational purposes. You may redact any confidential information; however, you may not redact the entire results section. 

The written case is the only portion of the entry that should contain confidential information. For that reason, the written case is the only portion of the entry that is included in the above publication permission policy. The creative work (reel, images), public case summary, and statement of
effectiveness should not include confidential information and will be showcased in various ways (effie.org, partner websites/publications), along with your public-facing written case, if your entry becomes a finalist or winner. Work submitted must be original or you must have the rights to submit it. 

The Effie Awards entry and judging process is designed to help all entrants present their work effectively, while ensuring the confidentiality of classified information.

JUDGING

Judging events have strict confidentiality protocols and are securely supervised by Effie moderators. Judges are required to sign confidentiality agreements before judging begins. Judges cannot save materials from the judging session and are individually matched with entries and categories that do not pose a conflict of interest. For example, a judge from the Beverages industry will not judge the Beverages category.

INDEXING DATA

While judging is confidential and entrants may select publication permission for their written case, Effie understands some entrants may still have concerns regarding sensitive information. When presenting numerical data within the entry, entrants may choose to provide those numbers as percentages or indexes, so that actual numbers are withheld. As with all data points, be sure to include context so the judges understand the significance of the data. Additionally, unless the entrant opts to allow Effie to publish the entry as it was submitted if it becomes a finalist or winner, only judges will see the written entry as it was submitted.

CREATIVE WORK & PUBLICITY MATERIALS

The creative material (reel, images, publicity materials) and case summary you submit into the competition become the property of Effie Worldwide and the Effie Awards and will not be returned. By entering your work in the competition, the Effie Awards/Effie Worldwide is automatically granted the right to make copies, reproduce and display the creative materials, case summaries, and statements of effectiveness within the context of your Effie entry for education and publicity purposes.

Creative work, case summaries, and the statement of effectiveness may be featured in the Effie Awards Journal, Effie Worldwide’s website, partner websites, press releases/newsletters, programming/conferences and the Effie Awards Gala. Because materials for publicity & creative work will be published for all finalists & winners, no confidential information should be included in these elements.

Please review the Creative Reel section of the Entry Kit for more guidance on licensing/talent.

In extraordinary circumstances, Effie will review requests to submit an edited reel for publication. Such requests should be submitted if the case becomes a finalist, as non-finalist creative reels are only seen by judges and will not be published.