Judging Panel

The judges are public relations practitioners selected by their local jury co-ordinator to serve as a volunteer on a judging team. They generously give their time, energy, and expertise to ensure our professional awards reflect communications excellence. While not all judges have their accreditation, they will have worked in the field and will be well-regarded for their professionalism by peers.

Each judging team ideally combines a jury co-ordinator who assembles the team, organizes the judging day(s), acts as host, facilitates discussion, and prepares the team’s report, including feedback. Judges provide the actual judging – although in a small team, the jury co-ordinator may also need to judge.

Judging Process

The entries received at CPRS National office will be sent to the judges to review. All submissions will be kept confidential. Judges score each submission and evaluate the entry on the two-page summary and review all supporting documentation provided. Winners will be determined by the highest total scoring. Judges, however, may reserve the right to withhold an award in a category should they determine no submission qualifies as “excellent.”

National Awards of Excellence judges reserve the right to recognize only those entries that meet the evaluation criteria. Judges will present one Gold Award of Excellence per category for the highest scoring submission above 85 per cent. In the case of more than one entry exceeding the 85 per cent mark, the highest scoring entry will be deemed the winner. A Silver Award of Excellence will go to the second highest scoring submission above 75 per cent in each category. A Bronze Award of Excellence will be awarded to the third highest scoring submission above 75. If no entry scores 75 per cent or above in a category, no award will be given in that category.

Note: Submissions are judged on content as a whole and not on a particular contributing element such as budget. This is key since low-budget programs can be equally as or more effective than a costly one. Smaller budgets may require more creativity and greater ingenuity and these elements score high.

What Judges Look For

Judges evaluate Communications Programs on four main components: Research and Analysis; Planning and Implementation; Results and Evaluation; and the overall quality of the entry. For more information on each of the components and their related value to the overall score, see the Communications Programs Scoresheet.

Judges evaluate Communications Projects on five main components: Need; Goals and Objectives; Execution; Results; and the overall work plan. For more information on each of the components and their related value to the overall score, see the Communications Projects Scoresheet.

The correlation between obtained results and pursued objectives will receive high marks as will originality and creativity.

Judges are looking for detailed information describing:

• Research
• Objectives
• Intended audience(s) or public(s)
• Resources utilized in terms of budget, people, or services
• Tools or techniques employed
• Results

Judges will be looking for a well-written and organized submission. Double check your spelling and grammar and ensure that the submission and supporting material is clearly organized.

Supporting material should provide additional information for judges. If you mention collateral material in your two page submission then a screen shot or copy of the collateral should be provided in your supporting material. You can also include additional information on research, budget, tactics, key messages in your supporting information. Make sure that all supporting material is clearly labeled and affixed in your submission package as items sometimes become loose in shipping to judges.