Your favorite awards program is back for another year. We’re excited to see what the heavy hitters in the industry have been working on since we last heard from you. Last year’s entries to Ragan’s PR Daily Awards were innovative and impressive. 2018’s program is all about pushing the envelope and getting your message to the right audience. 

Share work that’s visually appealing, had mass or hyperlocal appeal and was unique to your brand.

We’ve kept the program’s most relevant categories, including last year’s addition—the campaigns by industry section. Submit your work to one or more categories to increase your chance of winning. 

Prepare for your entry by checking out the 2017 PR Daily Award winners. 

HOW TO ENTER

On the entry form, be sure to include a thorough synopsis explaining the purpose and scope of your project. We ask that the synopsis be at least 1,000 words (max: 1,250 words) and include the following sub-headings (when applicable):

  • Goals
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Execution
  • Evaluation: success, results or ROI

Be sure to follow the guidelines laid out in the category descriptions, as the judges will look for those elements when they select the winners.

You will be able to upload up to five additional documents to your submission. We encourage you to include press releases, design concepts, videos, analytics, testimonials and anything else you feel will give us a better sense of your project. Proprietary or internal information can also be attached and will not be shared with the public.

Supporting documents that can’t be uploaded to the system should be mailed to:

Brendan Gannon
Ragan Communications
10 S. LaSalle St., Suite 310
Chicago, IL 60603

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

These awards are open to in-house, agency and independent communication practitioners in the private, corporate, nonprofit and government sectors. Enter your work, the work of your organization or submit entries on behalf of your client.

Companies from around the world are welcome to enter as long as the entry is submitted in English.

Contact Brendan Gannon to find the perfect category for your campaign or project. You can call 312-960-4407 or email brendang@ragan.com

This year’s program is open to any work executed between Jan. 1, 2017, and Oct. 10, 2018, inclusive.

ENTRY FEES

The fee for this program is $295 per entry. (Entry fee for the Grand Prize category is $395.)

Early bird submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. Central time on Oct. 10, 2018 to receive the $50 discount.

A late fee of $100 per entry will be added to all entries after 11:59 p.m. Central time, Nov. 7, 2018.

W-9 Form / Tax ID Number Request

CATEGORIES

GENERAL CAMPAIGNS

 B2B Campaign

Tell us about your product or service and the audience you were hoping to get out in front of. How did you target businesses that could benefit from yours? We want to see the campaign you created and how it strengthened the new and established relationships you’ve built in your industry. Please include examples and results.

 Branding Campaign

Whether you built your brand from scratch or revamped it this past year, we want to hear about it. Explain how you crafted your new identity and marketed your brand to stand out among your competitors. Share stats that prove your branding or rebranding was a success. If this is a rebrand, please share before-and-after samples and let us know the strategy behind your change.

 Cause-Related Marketing

How did you raise awareness, spread vital information or rally people to act for a good cause? Show us how you've promoted your cause with clever, passionate and engaging PR. Did you rely on traditional tactics such as PSAs and op-eds? Did you start a virtual firestorm with hashtags or viral video? Tell us how you did it.

 Community Relations Campaign

How did you take a community service initiative from idea to reality? Did you create a campaign to bring awareness to a community in need? We want to see everything you produced: social media content, newspaper and magazine ads, white papers, op-eds, radio and TV advertising, direct mailings—all of it. Don't forget results.

 Content Marketing and Brand Journalism

What stories did you tell on behalf of your brand? We want to see what you wrote, edited, shot or published. Share work that skillfully wove your organization’s narrative into tales of customer or staff experiences. We love stories that subtly proved your subject matter experts were the industry leaders. What were the goals of your campaign or project? What were the results? Don’t forget to include a link and screenshots of your work.

 Corporate Social Responsibility

Is your organization a steward of the environment? Is giving back to the local or global community an important part of your business or philanthropic model? Do you show innovative, unusual ways of caring for your employees’ well-being, or lend your voice (or financial support) to a worthy cause? What have you done to spread this message and improve your organization’s or client's reputation? Send us the response and feedback.

 Crisis Communication

How did you confront and power through a crisis this past year from inside or outside? What was your communications plan? Tell us what your strategy was for getting your message to the right audience in a timely and tactful manner. How did you repair your brand’s reputation in the process? Who publicly represented the organization during the crisis? Tell us.

 Event Marketing

How did you get the word out and build excitement for your event? How was your plan creative and effective? What tools did you use to execute: social media or traditional communications? Don’t forget to send samples of your work and show us pictures of your exciting soirée.

 Location-Based Campaign

Did you target a particular geographic region or run a localized campaign that would only make sense in that location? How were you able to understand the market at the ground level and get results? Detail what you did, how you planted your idea in the right local scene and what you accomplished.

 Media Pitch

As PR moves away from traditional press releases, reporters are getting bombarded with more creative email and multimedia pitches than ever before. Did your organization create a pitch that got major attention? What made your pitch irresistible? Dazzle us.

 PR on a Shoestring

How did you pull together a PR campaign with little to no budget? Tell us how you got your brand’s or client’s message tons of attention for less than $5,000. Don’t forget to include your goals, execution and success metrics.

 Social Media Campaign

How did you bring all the pieces together for your best social media campaign from this past year? More than just an improved Facebook newsfeed page or an Instagram or Twitter account, we want to see how you executed a cohesive campaign across several online channels. We'll be looking for deliberate strategy, great content and results.

 *NEW!* Thought Leadership Campaign

You positioned your executives or organization as industry experts with an impressive thought leadership campaign. How did you humanize executives and deliver engaging, powerful messaging with meaningful takeaways for your audience? Tell us about the problem this campaign sought to solve. Were you recovering from a crisis? Looking to contribute to a larger, cultural discussion? Rebranding your organization and hoping to stand out from competitors? Tell us what constitutes expertise in your industry and how you were able to share that with your audience. Don’t forget to include details about your strategy, execution and results.

 Traditional Campaign

How did you put together a good old-fashioned traditional PR campaign? If you’ve found innovative uses for familiar PR instruments, you will have gone a long way toward making yourself a winner. Your campaign could include news releases, events, television, press conferences and publicity stunts, but no social media. Show us all the details.

 Viral Campaign

Did you create something that was so funny, memorable or relatable that it just begged to be shared? Did you create a client video knowing it had potential to gather views by the hundreds of thousands from around the world, or did you shoot a short piece hoping to get a few hundred nibbles from knowledgeable industry influencers? Lay out your plan, campaign and results.

PUBLICATIONS

 Annual Report

The best annual reports reveal the heart and soul of the organization while imparting key information to stakeholders. Show us how your annual report conveyed the spirit of your culture and workplace to employees, investors and the public. What creative methods did you employ to achieve your success?

 Blog

Tell us what makes your blog original, insightful and inspiring. Please show us its reach and give examples of its reputation and authority in your industry. Include a statistical analysis if possible. Please include links to the blog you created for your organization or client and share a minimum of three posts.

 Digital Publication

Many organizations are trimming budgets by relying on electronic publications. Share your digital publications, either in file format or hosted online. Be sure to let us know your goals, strategy, execution and results.

 Online Newsroom

Show us how your organization has changed its online newsroom to attract reporters, bloggers, researchers and the public. Does your newsroom tell interesting, vital stories about your organization? If possible, use online analytics to prove your newsroom gets lots of traffic. Anecdotal evidence of increased use is also acceptable—and welcome. Please include a link or multiple screenshots with your entry.

 Press Kit

Your new product release, exciting event or press preview wouldn’t be complete without a comprehensive press kit. We want to see how you armed reporters with essential information in advance of exciting news. Share your press kit with us. We’d love to see print or digital versions complete with images and resources. Include examples and feedback.

 Print Publication

For all the perks of digital, there’s still much to be said for a great print publication. From magazines and reports to pamphlets, brochures and media kits, share with us your best print publications. Tell us what makes them so great, and be sure to include results and feedback.

 Website

Does your new website for your client or organization make you swell with pride? Send us the link and support your case for its blow-your-socks-off greatness. We'll be looking at design, presentation, content and simple, clear navigation. If this is a relaunch, please include documentation (numerous screen shots) of the previous site, and show us before-and-after results side by side.

CAMPAIGNS BY INDUSTRY

 Automotive Campaign

Did you need to generate buzz for a new release, sale or automotive technology? We want to see the campaign you put together. Whether you’re championing a luxury model or a minivan, share the goals of your campaign, the channels you used and the impressive results.

 Beauty, Fashion or Lifestyle Campaign

Your campaign looks amazing, but did it deliver amazing results? Tell us how you spoke on behalf of a new or established beauty, lifestyle or fashion brand. Standout campaigns are those that champion diversity and communicate creatively. Share your goals and vision, show us the campaign and include results and metrics.

 Education Campaign

Knowledge is power, and your campaign was undeniably powerful. Share the PR work you created on behalf of educational institutions, school districts, educational software or e-learning organizations, associations and more. How did you get people excited about learning?

 Finance or Utilities Campaign

How did you make communication on behalf of a financial services or utilities brand interesting and fun? We’re looking for unique campaigns that set your brand apart as a leader in your industry.

 Food or Beverage Campaign

We’re hungry for fresh, exciting food and beverage campaigns. Are you promoting a new health food or an established, beloved brand? Tell us how you developed a PR campaign that stood out in the crowded food and beverage space.

 Health Care Campaign

We’re looking for health care campaigns with heart. How did you tell a patient’s triumphant story or explain complex medical terminology to reporters? What were your goals, obstacles and achievements?

 Hospitality, Travel or Tourism Campaign

Whether you’re dedicated to providing travelers with a luxurious, thrilling or relaxing experience, the story you tell matters. Share the hospitality, travel or tourism campaigns that showed potential guests what they would experience if they were to book with you. Tell us about the goals of your campaign, its execution and the feedback you received from guests or fans on social media.

 Sports or Outdoor Campaign

Your campaign was a breath of fresh air. You communicated on behalf of sports or outdoor brands to show off new gear, position a team or athlete favorably or execute an interactive event. Did you inspire people to get moving? Was your partnership with a sports star a social media success? Share your plan and how you pulled it off.

 Technology Campaign

Is your tech brand-new or a household name? In either case, we want to know about the PR campaigns you’ve put together to attract new users, local and national news media and social media followers. Include your goals, strategy, execution and metrics.

PR EVENTS

 Contest or Giveaway

Everyone loves a free product. Pulling together a giveaway is a brilliant way to generate excitement in your audience. Were you hoping to reach a new demographic, build brand awareness or start trending on social media? What were the benefits of creating this contest or giveaway? Did it generate lots of user-generated content? Share all the details and the feedback you received.

 Influencer Event

Trusted tastemakers can make or break your brand. You spared no expense to put together an event for influencers in your industry. How did you get them to share their experience with your brand on social media? Did you pull together an exclusive tasting event, throw a swanky party, take them on a tour of your headquarters or whisk them away on all-expenses paid getaway? No matter how big or how small your event was, we want to know how it put a spotlight on your brand. Share the details from concept to execution, and please include results.

 Press Event or Media Tour

How did you pull together a pool of reporters, cameras in tow, microphones ready—all the important industry journalists? Tell us about your preparations for the media day, press conference or media tour that got everyone talking about your organization. If there were positive aftereffects, we want to hear about those too.

 Product or Service Launch

Tell us how your PR department or client blew away customers, competitors and the media with the launch of a new product or service. Describe the tactics and strategy, and brag about how sweet the outcome proved to be.

 Publicity Stunt

How did your publicity stunt or guerilla marketing tactic directly or indirectly generate buzz for your client or highlight your message? What ideas inspired its creation? What led to its success? How did you measure results?

GRAND PRIZE

 PR Campaign of the Year

This year’s winner will show command of an impressive number of PR tools, tactics and strategies. Share the specialized PR campaign that got unbelievable results. Our judges will look at everything from your mission and goals to your strategy and tactics—and again, results, results, results.

Additional Questions

Additional Questions

If you have any questions about the program or problems submitting your entry, please call Brendan Gannon at 312-960-4407 or email brendang@ragan.com.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship Opportunities

If you are interested in sponsoring one of Ragan Communications’ award programs, please contact our sponsorship team at sponsorship@ragan.com.