To enter the Digital Signage Awards, you or someone at your firm will need to prepare your 100-word (maximum) summary, and your 1,500-word (maximum) full submission paper. We recommend doing this offline as its own document, or documents. You will upload the summary and full submission documents as part of completing your submission online, using the Entry Form. You will also be asked to provide a good reference photo of the project, and your company or brand logo.
Space is also provided for any URL for photo or video files on on a micro site or on Vimeo or YouTube, for instance. Submitting your entry will then lead you to payment page to cover the fee, if it’s your first entry.
A maximum of five entries is allowed per company and they must be submitted online.
The Entry Process In Detail
To enter your company’s work, we require a 100-word maximum summary of the project, as well as a more detailed submission that covers off things like the background, technical information and impacts of the work. This should be no more than 1,500 words. You are best to have these prepared as completed documents that will then be uploaded when prompted by the Entry Form. You will also be asked to provide a good reference photo for the submission (remember, first impressions matter can when it comes to judged entries), and we’ll also need a company or brand logo for your firm.
The Judges will automatically vote lower any entries exceeding the word count. At the same time, the judges will appreciate how you have condensed your entry into the 100-word summary and whether you have followed the template guidance below for your full submission paper. Please adhere to these basic rules of entry, together with any other specific criteria described below.
Photographs may be made available for the judges to view, either upload these through the online entry form at time of submission or upload them to your own micro site, or to YouTube or Vimeo. You will need to include a link to the micro site, YouTube or Vimeo, when prompted by the entry form and where the judges can look at any additional visual material. Do not upload a photo file larger than 5MB with your entry form as it will be rejected. The judges will want to see larger reference images – at least one of which must be uploaded with your entry form – or view any relevant video file – when considering the merits of your entry.
The closing date for entries is September 30, and you will need to pay the first entry fee before any of your entries are processed for judging.
Template guide for your submission paper for judging
Your written document should show how your project met its aims, employed creativity or innovative techniques, was enjoyed by users, and delivered views/impressions, satisfaction and a return on investment. At the beginning of your document the following information must be listed:
- Category entered
- Title of project/name of product
- Relevant URL for the entry (if not showcased online at your company URL)
- Client company or brand that the entry is about
- Name of company making the entry
- Type of company about which the entry is written (e.g. manufacturer, creative agency, etc)
- Relevant URL for access to supporting visual material or other data. (Links to Vimeo/Youtube, etc)
Project Excellence categories
- What were the objectives of the project?
- Provide an outline of the strategy – for overall design and creative
- What did you do with technology and creative that reflects innovation and/or creativity? In your description, detail what was done internally, and who were your key partners/suppliers, including what each did or provided for the project
- What was the feedback received from clients and other related stakeholders? Did the outcome meet the need and any criteria originally set out for the project/client? If this is a publicly viewed installation, was there more general feedback received or measured from this audience?
- How was success measured, and share what you can about the project’s outcome (we know many clients are reticent to release tangible numbers, but percentages can help)
Creative Excellence categories
- What was your design or content brief for the campaign or project?
- Provide an outline of the strategy – for overall design, creative and content.
- What was done that sets the work apart from other efforts?
- What did you do with technology, creative or content that reflects innovation and/or creativity in design, content and execution? In your description, detail what was done internally, and who were your key partners/suppliers, including what each did or provided to the project
- What was the feedback received from clients and other related stakeholders? Did the outcome meet the need and any criteria originally set out for the project/client? If this is a publicly viewed installation, was there more general feedback received or measured from this audience?
- How was success measured, and share what you can about the project’s outcome (we know many clients are reticent to release tangible numbers, but use of percentages can still tell the story). This could include sales, online engagement metrics or other measures
Product and Services categories
- Describe the challenge being addressed and the resulting innovation, and how it reflects a technology, installation or design advance
- Provide more detail on the design or innovation – what it does, how it works, etc
- What was the feedback received from clients and other related stakeholders? Did the outcome meet the need and any criteria originally set out for the project/client? If this is a publicly viewed installation, was there more general feedback received or measured from this audience?
- How was success measured, and share what you can about the project’s outcome (we know many clients are reticent to release tangible numbers, but use of percentages can still tell the story). This could include sales, online engagement metrics or other measures.
- List the partners/suppliers who worked with you on this project, and what they provided
Company Excellence categories
Because the stories told by entrants are so varied we try not to be too prescriptive about how companies should enter the Company Excellence categories. It is enough to ask that each entry explains why a new company or an existing company has a claim to win a gold award. We want entrants to tell their story to the judges in their best way.
Entries for the Start-up category should meet the eligibility criteria: the company must have commenced operations after October 1 2021 and should be able to prove a full year’s trading in the period to September 30 2023.
Entries for Outstanding Individual are by NOMINATION and are FREE OF CHARGE.
If you are in any doubt about how to enter, please contact Rose Freeman by email.
Support material
If you wish to provide additional support material (for instance if there has been marketing collateral or video work associated with your campaign) please provide a link to any micro site, or YouTube or Vimeo, where the judges can view your material.
The judges will want to feel fully informed about your activity, so please include whatever you feel is appropriate and relevant for your entry. If an entry is entered into more than one category, please indicate this clearly, but remember you need to remind the judges of the micro site URL or YouTube or Vimeo file for the support material, in each written submission you enter.
It is worth stressing that digital signage is highly visual. It has to be. So, it is tremendously important that you include as many visuals as you can to illustrate what was done and its impact. The judges don’t want massive photos, but they’d rather have that than small postcard-sized images that are too small to be useful. Bottom line: making it easy for our judging panel to see and understand what you did will only help. One or two small photos and a written summary is not a good idea, but a micro site of images or a link to a video really is. We are planning to use more video in the presentation of the Awards winners in future.
Disqualifications
The Digital Signage Awards are international business awards. The organizers have the competition open to the whole digital signage industry, but any website or submitted material that breaks national or international laws or offends public, religious, national or gender-specific sensitivities, or that flouts advertising, promotion or Internet rules (such as spamming) will be disqualified. If an entry is disqualified for any reason the entry fees will not be refunded.