DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 23

ELIGIBILITY

The Summit Awards are open to all professional public relations practitioners and PR students. PRSA membership is not required to enter. Entries must have been completed during the 12 months beginning September 1, 2019 and ending September 1, 2020. It is the entrant’s responsibility to communicate entry information to all interested/ participating parties such as agencies, clients, etc. Entries must be produced by or for an organization based in the Blue Ridge Chapter area.

ENTRY CATEGORIES

Please see the 2020 Call for Entries Document for a detailed description of each category.

The Summit Awards are divided into two main divisions: Campaigns and Tactics (see list of categories below). Campaign entries may only be submitted in ONE campaign category. However, individual campaign tactics may be entered in multiple tactics categories.

SUBCATEGORIES DEFINED

For-Profit: Any campaign or program where more than 50% of the work is completed by a for-profit organization.

Non-Profit: Any campaign or program where more than 50% of the work is completed by a non-profit organization.

Government/Education: Any campaign or program where more than 50% of the work is completed by a local, state or federal government agency, public school or higher education institution.

The subcategory is determined by the individual or organization that completes a majority of the work involved in the entry. For instance, an agency submitting an entry for a non-profit client will be judged in the for-profit category if the agency did more than 50% of the work.

ENTRY FEES (NON-REFUNDABLE)

Entry fees can be paid online or via check payable to “Blue Ridge Chapter PRSA”

Early Bird Entries (deadline is October 2):
PRSA Blue Ridge members: $55 each entry.
Non-members: $70 each entry.*
Student entries: PRSSA members: $25
Non-member students: $40 each entry.*

Regular Entries (deadline is October 16)
PRSA Blue Ridge members: $70 each entry.
Non-members: $85 each entry.*
Student entries: PRSSA members: $30
Non-member students: $45 each entry.*

* - non-member entrants are asked to include the non-member fee of $15 for each entry during the online entry process.

JUDGING GUIDELINES

The competition is decided by a panel of judges from the Agricultural Relations Council chapter of PRSA. Judges are not required to select a winner in any given category if no entry is deemed appropriate.

AWARDS PRESENTATION

Given the social distancing requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Summit Awards will be presented virtually in early December. More information about the virtual ceremony will be available in the Fall.

ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

All entries (campaigns and tactics) must include the following:

One page summary (see details below).

At least four suitable images (JPEG, GIF, PNG, PDF) that in some way represent the work.

A short video (about 30 seconds) describing the entry. Please record this video in landscape or horizontal mode. These images and video will not be judged, but will be used as part of the awards presentation.

A typed 75-word brief overview of the submission calling out highlights from the entry in each judging criteria area. Please submit this overview in Microsoft Word format.

ENTRY SUMMARY

Entries must include a summary no longer than one page in Microsoft Word format. Any summary that is longer than one page will incur a penalty. The summary is the single most important element of the overall entry for the judges. Make sure your summary accurately addresses each of the following assessment areas:

1. RESEARCH

Describe the process used to identify project problems or opportunities and to establish goals.

2. PLANNING

Describe the goals and measurable objectives of the public relations campaign or tactic. Be specific! Include target audience(s), strategies and tactics. Highlight any originality and/or creativity.

3. IMPLEMENTATION

Describe the techniques used to implement the campaign or tactic, including difficulties encountered and how they were overcome. Describe any paid advertising. Provide an overall project budget.

4. EVALUATION

Demonstrate how the campaign or tactic specifically met or exceeded the stated objectives and how that success was measured. Provide quantitative data if available.

Entries will be assessed based on a weighted scale with 25% of the total score based on planning, 25% based on implementation, 33% based on evaluation and 17% based on research.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

Support your work with photos, videos, letters, scripts, storyboards, news clippings, and copies of any materials used in the project. Website entries must include an active URL for judges to access the website. All materials must be uploaded in a digital format. Due to file size restrictions imposed by the online judging platform, any files larger than 5MB must be uploaded to a cloud based site (i.e. Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive). Entrants can then submit links to these cloud-based supporting materials.

It is very important that these cloud-based materials have permissions set so that anyone can view the materials, as there will be multiple judges reviewing each entry.

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