Judging session – 8th October 2025
Shortlist announcement – 10th October 2025
Judges will read and pre-score all entry forms, considering any supporting materials submitted. Judges will be asked to give a score for each question within the entry form, as listed in the bullet points below. These will be combined to give an overall score for each entry. All judges’ pre-scores will then be combined, and the highest-scoring entries will determine the shortlists.
Judges will meet to discuss the highest-scoring entries and then agree on the winner for each category.
The awards will be judged by some of the biggest names in search. Click here to see this year’s judging panel.
Entries should not exceed 1000 words in total and should relate to work undertaken between May 2024 – September 2025.
CAMPAIGN AWARDS
Please complete the following sections providing details of the campaign that you are entering. Please note entries must not exceed a total word count of 1000 words.
All information provided will remain confidential to the judges before and after the event and will not be shared with anyone outside of the judging panel allocated to review your entry.
Objective(s) & budget (1-10 points)
Tell us what you were looking to achieve from the campaign and any targets that were set. We recommend showing targets as quantifiable metrics e.g., ‘Increase conversions from 150 to 300 a month’ rather than ‘Increase conversions by 10%’.
Please include a breakdown of implementation costs, staffing costs, agency fees etc. All elements of the entry form are confidential, and judges will not share this information. If you are unable to provide a detailed budget breakdown, please include the financial band your budget is within along with the percentage budget allocated for staffing costs, agency fees and media spend etc.
Target audience & strategy (1-10 points)
Please provide us with details about the audience you were targeting and your overall strategy to reach them as well as the strategy to meet the overall objectives.
Implementation & creativity (1-10 points)
Please give us a detailed explanation of your implementation of the campaign. Include screenshots to help us visualise campaigns. Provide information on the creativity of the campaign.
Details of any challenges faced and how these were overcome (1-10 points)
What challenges were unique to you and how have you overcome them? What was the end result of overcoming these challenges?
Results & evaluation (1-10 points)
Please relate these to the objectives and targets stated above. Provide actual numbers rather than percentages wherever possible.
Why should your campaign win? (1-10 points)
What do you think sets your campaign apart from the other campaigns being judged? Judges will in particular be looking for the thing that makes this campaign different to the others, what is unique?
Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.
Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.
INNOVATION/SOFTWARE/PRODUCT AWARDS
Please complete the following sections providing details of the innovation, software, or product that you are entering. Please note entries must not exceed a total word count of 1000 words in this section.
All information provided will remain confidential to the judges before and after the event and will not be shared with anyone outside of the judging panel allocated to review your entry.
Overview of Innovation/Software/Product (1-10 points)
Please provide the judges with a synopsis of what the tool does and how it adds value to the end user.
Total budget (1-10 points)
Please include costs associated with running the innovation/software/product and how much you intend to or do sell the innovation/software/product for.
Existing problems and target audience (1-10 points)
Please include details outlining the problems that this innovation/software/product solves and how if at all these problems were previously dealt with. Entrants should detail who the target customers or users of this product are.
USP and Features (1-10 points)
Please outline what is the innovation/software/product’s unique proposition. Entrants should highlight the major features that are unique to the product/software or innovation which help solve a customer problem or benefit the customer positively.
Key Metrics (1-10 points)
Please detail what key metrics have you used to measure whether this innovation, software or product is successful. I.e., does it save money, make things faster, and generate more revenue?
Why should your Innovation, Software or Product win? (1-10 points)
What single thing about your innovation, software or product is not done by anyone else? What makes it stand out to be award-worthy?
Please include a login and password for numerous users to access your software.
We ask you to send a ‘UK Search Awards’ login to allow judges to be able to test and evaluate your product if they feel necessary. In addition, if you’d like to provide a demo or video, please provide the link below.
Please note if you’re unable to provide a login please contact awards@dontpanicprojects.com. Judging is based on the application form and the judges’ industry knowledge of the tools. They are a highly experienced judging panel with in-depth industry knowledge. The tool logins requested are for any judges who feel that want to delve deeper into any claims/functionality detailed in the entry.
Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.
Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.
AGENCY/TEAM/EMERGING TALENT AWARDS
Please complete the following sections providing details of the agency/team/individual that you are entering. Please note entries can be self-nominated or nominated by a third party and must not exceed a total word count of 1000 words in this section.
All information provided will remain confidential to the judges before and after the event and will not be shared with anyone outside of the judging panel allocated to review your entry.
Overview of the Agency/Team/Emerging Talent nominee
Please include numbers, staff turnover, roles etc for agency and team nominations or current and previous job roles etc for Rising Star nominations
Agency/Team/Emerging Talent objectives (1-10 points)
Tell us what you were looking to achieve and any targets that have been set within the agency or team to help achieve your goals. We recommend showing targets as quantifiable metrics e.g., ‘Increase conversions from 150 to 300 a month’ rather than ‘Increase conversions by 10%’.
Recent work example(s) (1-10 points)
Please include details of recent client or campaign work. How does your recent work display creativity and make your team or agency stand out amongst others?
Details of any recent achievements (1-10 points)
What makes your team or agency stand out? Please include details of any achievements you feel make your agency, team or rising star award-worthy. What are you proud of?
Details of any challenges faced and how these were overcome (1-10 points)
What challenges were unique to you and how have you overcome them? What was the end result of overcoming these challenges?
Why should your Agency/Team/Emerging Talent win? (1-10 points)
Please detail what you feel makes you stand out amongst others and why you feel your entry is award-winning. What makes you unique? What gives you the competitive edge?
Please detail any supporting documents you are including as part of your submission.
Optional – Please upload to the online entry portal when submitting this entry form.
Confidentiality
All material will remain confidential to the judges. All judging discussions are confidential and will not be shared or discussed with anyone outside of the judging panel ahead of the ceremony or thereafter. Judges will not share confidential material, judging papers or entries with anyone. Judges will securely delete all judging materials immediately after the judging period or give materials to the We Are Search team who will manage this. Judges can only access entries that they have been provided to score.
Winning case studies may be used in post-event materials to promote best practices and permission will be sought from entrants before publishing these.
