Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 12.05.2026 
If you are entering the APAC Search Awards this is the webinar to watch.
In our webinar, The Definitive Guide to Entering the Search Awards, a panel of seasoned judges; David Edmundson-Bird, Jim Banks, Dawn Anderson and Neville Hobson, walk through every section of the entry form and explain the dos and don’ts in plain terms. If you’re planning to enter this year, it’s essential viewing.
Here’s a summary of the key themes and insights from the session.
Why Judges Love Real Numbers
Vague language is one of the most common mistakes judges see. Phrases like “significant growth,” “strong ROI”, or “impressive results” tell a judge almost nothing, and they know it. What they’re looking for is specificity.
Real numbers do two things: they demonstrate that you actually tracked and measured your work, and they give judges the concrete evidence they need to score your entry confidently. Think percentage uplifts, revenue figures, traffic growth, conversion rates, cost-per-acquisition improvements. If you can benchmark those numbers against industry averages or your client’s historical performance, even better.
The judges are not asking you to share commercially sensitive information carelessly, they’re asking you to be precise about what you achieved. A campaign that delivered a 47% increase in organic revenue is infinitely more compelling than one that “significantly grew organic performance.” As long as you prove it.
Not able to provide concise numbers, the judges understand. Use the bands detailed in the criteria to show an approximation of your budget, spend and results.
The Importance of Storytelling and Engagement
An entry is not a report. It’s not a list of tactics and outputs. It’s a story, and like any good story, it needs a beginning, middle and end.
The best entries the judges see take them on a journey: here was the challenge, here’s how we thought about it, here’s what we did, and here’s what happened as a result. That narrative thread keeps judges engaged and makes your work memorable.
Think about the language you use, the flow between sections, and whether someone reading your entry cold would understand the context and appreciate the significance of what you achieved. If your entry could apply to any client or any campaign with a few name changes, it’s not specific enough. Make it yours.
Demonstrating Unique and Creative Thinking
Judges potentially assess fifty or so entries. The ones that stand out are the ones where you can clearly see the thinking. As David Edmundson-Bird puts it, “the moment where the team decided to do something differently, take a risk, or approach a brief in a way that wasn’t obvious.”
Creative and unique thinking doesn’t have to mean big-budget campaigns or elaborate production. It can be a smart insight that led to a pivot in strategy, an unconventional approach to keyword research, or a way of structuring content that nobody in your sector had tried before. What judges want to see is evidence that your team thought, not just executed.
Be explicit about this. Don’t assume the judge will infer your creativity from the results alone. Explain the decision-making, the reasoning, and why the approach was distinctive.
The Value of Testimonials
A well-placed client testimonial can be one of the most powerful elements in an entry, but only if it’s doing real work.
A generic quote from a happy client adds little. What judges value is a testimonial that speaks directly to the impact of the campaign, one that corroborates your numbers, validates your approach, articulates the difference the work made to the client’s business or speaks of the relationship you have built. If your client is willing to say something specific and meaningful, their words carry weight with a judging panel.
The key word is specific. “The team were brilliant to work with” is forgettable. “This campaign delivered results we hadn’t seen in three years of trying”, gives a judge something to work with.
A Word on Word Count
Word count guidance exists for a reason, and judges notice when it’s ignored in either direction. Entries that vastly overshoot the word count signal poor editorial discipline. Entries that significantly undershoot suggest the entrant didn’t have enough to say, or didn’t respect the process.
Work within the limits. If anything, treat the word count as a discipline: what’s the most important thing to include in each section? What can be cut without losing meaning? Strong entries are tight, purposeful and well-edited. Every word should earn its place.
Judges want to offer entrants a fair playing field, and if you exceed the word count it’s not fair, and you could be penalised.
Agency of the Year? You Should Also Be Entering a Campaign Award
This is a point the judges feel strongly about, and it’s easy to see why. If you’re putting together an Agency of the Year entry, you’re making a case for your agency as a whole: your culture, your capabilities, your body of work, your growth. That’s a compelling story. But it’s also an abstract one.
Entering at least one campaign-specific award alongside your Agency of the Year submission gives the judges, and the industry, concrete evidence of how you rate your work and what you’re capable of. It shows your thinking in action, your approach to a real client brief, and the quality of your output.
If you’re only entering Agency of the Year, you’re asking judges to take a lot on trust. Give them the proof.
Changes to the Innovation and Software Categories
The Innovation and Software categories have evolved and for good reason. Agencies are no longer just using market tools; increasingly, they’re building them. Whether it’s proprietary software to automate client reporting, custom platforms to manage content at scale, or bespoke tools developed to solve problems that off-the-shelf solutions couldn’t address, agencies are creating technology to support their clients and their own operations.
The judges discussed how these categories now reflect this reality. If your agency has developed its own software or technology, even if it started as an internal efficiency tool, it could be worthy of recognition. Don’t assume these categories are only for tech companies or pure-play software providers. If you’ve built something that works, that delivers value, and that demonstrates innovation, the category may be a better fit than you think.
Why Being in the Room at the Awards Ceremony Matters
This final point from the judges is one that often gets overlooked.
The Awards ceremony isn’t just a celebration. It’s a professional gathering of the people who shape the search industry. Being in the room means conversations happen, relationships form, and your agency’s presence signals commitment to the industry. When you win, and when you’re seen to win, that visibility is priceless.
But there’s something else the judges touched on that goes beyond networking. The atmosphere of the Awards, the stories told on stage, the entries that are celebrated. All of it contributes to raising the standard of what good work looks like. Being present means you’re part of that conversation. You see what’s being recognised and why. You understand the benchmark.
For agencies who take their entries seriously and invest the time and thinking to do them well, being in the room is the obvious conclusion of that effort. Don’t put in the work and then miss the night. As the judges say, “your team deserve their time in the spotlight.”
Watch the Full Definitive Guide to Entering the Search Awards Webinar
The panel goes into considerably more depth on all of these points and more, including specific advice on individual sections of the entry form in the full webinar. If you’re entering this year, it’s the best preparation you can do.
