Detailed Rules & Information

1. Entrants must be members of the APG. If there is more than one author at least one must be an APG member. (For authors from outside the UK, this rule does not apply)

 

2. The APG member(s) must be the presenter(s) to the final jury if the paper is shortlisted. If an author is not present at final judging, virtually or in person their paper will be disqualified. (More about this in rule 15)

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3. Your paper must be in written form. For Creative Strategy Awards it needs to be a written account of at least 1,000 words. The absolute maximum is 10 pages and 2,000 words but please be aware that brevity and being concise are an advantage at the shortlisting stage when the judges have to read as many as 100 papers. For Long Term Thinking Awards it must not exceed 12 pages and 3,000 words. Please state the word count at the end of your paper. If you are shortlisted, you will need to send us your paper in a Word document directly following the shortlist announcement in June 2027 in order to be published in the book.

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4. You must provide a summary of the paper (maximum 250 words) along with 1 image to represent your paper. This must be included in your paper immediately following the title page. This summary is not included in your final word count.

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5. The creative work must have appeared in the market between 31st March 2025 - 22nd March 2027.

 

6. Your entry must be approved by the senior management of all the companies involved in the submission and by your senior client who has approved the entire contents of your paper for publication. You must submit the full names of the approvals with your entry, using the entry form.

 

7. Someone who has left an agency may write a paper under their own name on behalf of that agency, subject to agency and client approval.

 

8. An agency may submit a paper if the client has since left the agency, provided they have approval and sign-off from that client.

 

9. Where a person who worked on the strategy is no longer with the agency, then the paper may still be submitted by the agency providing that there is no misleading information about the origin of the ideas.

 

10. An agency may enter jointly with another agency and such collaboration is welcomed.

 

11. All entries will be submitted online.

 

12. All papers must be written in English and suitable translations of the work must be provided to allow English-speakers to judge the entry.

 

13. Each entry must be accompanied by a completed entry form and payment of the appropriate fee.

 

14. The entry fee will be announced in Autumn 2026. A VAT receipt will be issued. Fees must be paid in GBP using the online payment system provided. If you submit 4 papers the 5th is free. If you have to withdraw your paper once it has been uploaded, the fee will be non-refundable. No paper can be cleared for judging unless the entry fee has been paid in full by the deadline.

 

15. If your paper is shortlisted, you will be expected to present your case to the judges by video call on either 1st or 2nd July 2027. If a named author is not present at final judging, their paper will be disqualified.

 

16. For winning papers, the presentation of the Award trophy will be to the principal author. Co-authors and contributing thinkers will be credited and will have the option of purchasing further trophies.

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17. World copyright of each entry will pass to the APG and it is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that the approvals supplied under Rule 6 are adequate for this purpose.

 

18. Shortlisted papers will be published by the APG as “APG Creative Strategy Awards Winners”. All papers entered into the competition may be published online or in book form by the APG or by WARC at the discretion of the APG.

 

19. Any data or information that you use to support your thinking must be included in the paper. We do not encourage redacted or hidden data. However, if you are having problems with client confidentiality that might prevent you from submitting your paper, please get in touch with us - sarahnewman@apg.org.uk.

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20. For copyright purposes, you will need to source or credit images that do not belong to you or your organisation. 

 

21. Amendments and additions to these rules, if any, will be published on this APG website.