Some of the most well-liked prizes during and after the Covid-fueled digital revolution are digital awards in all of their numerous incarnations is therefore not surprising.
There are several categories that these digital prizes fit into; we will discuss the most common ones in this post. It seeks to assist you in sorting through the various choices and selecting which digital awards are worth spending time and money on. Naturally, Boost Awards team of award specialists has years of experience in writing submissions and winning digital awards. If you need assistance writing your entries to improve your chances of winning digital awards, please get in touch with us.
Awards for digital marketing
Here, digital marketing awards provide the most variety. It’s difficult to know where to start with over 400 marketing/PR/event awards, which make up about 10% of our whole database. Still, the following are the primary camps:
- The Digital Communication Awards also have a June deadline and are a pan-European awards program encompassing all things digital, from chatbots and podcasts through data-driven communication and employer branding to viral campaigns.
- One of the most prestigious international programs is the UK-based Drum Awards for Digital Industries—better known as the DADI Awards—hosted by The Drum, with an August deadline. It is particularly sought after by agencies. These awards mainly emphasize campaign effectiveness; in a similar vein, you might want to check out The Drum Awards for Marketing (entry due in March), which has a number of digital categories.
- The American-run VEGA Digital Awards, which have a May deadline and categories for everything digital, are well-positioned to showcase outstanding instances of how digital marketing has adapted to the new normal.
- Another well-known US-based competition that accepts entries from outside is the AVA Digital Awards, which has a deadline of December and a long range of categories encompassing many aspects of digital. There are several options available, ranging from broad categories for digital marketing to more specialized ones for online, social media, mobile video, and content. The same organizers also run the Hermes Creative Awards, which have an early March deadline and are geared primarily toward digital and web creative marketing.
Next are the awards, which highlight digital breakthroughs in marketing subsets that aren’t as traditionally digital:
- The Digital Event Awards, which have a due date in February, are a new program by Mash Media, the publishers of Conference News, that aims to honor events and providers that are centered around digital. It’s not just a rebranding of an already-existing event award.
- A record number of entries were received for the Event Marketer EX Awards (due in August) last year, as the pandemic compelled experiential marketing to increasingly incorporate digital solutions. Numerous categories exist for social media use, virtual experiences, live streaming, and combined digital + live campaigns.
- Another brand-new initiative from Don’t Panic, which has effectively introduced other award programs of a similar nature in previous years, is the Global Digital PR Awards (October deadline). Since 2021, the use of digital PR as a tactic to boost sales and raise brand awareness has grown at an exponential rate; as a result, these will undoubtedly establish themselves as industry standard.
- A sibling program of the DADIs for creative efforts in all kinds of digital marketing, the Drum Awards for Digital Advertising have a January deadline and place slightly less focus on effectiveness (though it is still one of the criteria).
Awards for digital content
Content prizes are the next topic. This subgroup of prizes for digital marketing is still expanding quickly. In an extensive marketing award program, there used to be just one category for “best use of content” a few years ago. Our database now contains no fewer than 17 content-specific schemes. As an illustration:
- The deadline for the long-running Digiday Content Marketing Awards is in February. The program is for content in all media, including print and experiential marketing. But after the pandemic, a number of additional categories were added, two of which were for “pivoting” and first-time podcast recognition.
- Don’t Panic, the organization that oversees the UK Content Awards (due in April), the European Content Awards (due in November), and the Global Content Awards (due in July) has acknowledged the significance of this issue and organized these three competitions accordingly.
- The Content Marketing Institute, a US-based organization, presents the global CMI Content Marketing Awards, with a May deadline. These awards tend to draw some of the biggest brands in the globe seeking recognition for their content, with 87 categories to select from.
Search and social media honors
Lastly, there are the awards for internet marketing and advertising, which are digital in character. These can be divided into several groups:
- Awards for social media, such the Top Tech Awards for Social Media (September deadline), the US-based PR News Digital & Social Media Awards (December deadline), and The Global Social Media Awards (December deadline).
- The DMA Awards, which have a September deadline, honor the rapidly expanding use of analytics and statistics to guide marketing and are known for their catchphrase, “Rewardingly hard to win.”
