Important Dates
- Entry deadline: [07th October 2022] 11.59pm UTC + 4:00.
- Please note the entry deadline date is final, and there will be no extensions provided. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline.
- All entries must be for work substantially completed between 23rd September 2021 and the entry deadline (07th October 2022)
- Finalists announced: 08th November 2022
- 2022 MEPRA Awards presentation ceremony: [08 December 2022]
Entry Guidelines & Process
- The Middle East Public Relations Awards are open to all parties involved in the use of public relations for communication purposes; public relations consultancies, freelancers, in-house communications departments, digital agencies, media owners, students and academia.
- The submitting company, agency or their client must be headquartered or have an operational base within the Middle East region.
- Companies or individuals may submit entries on behalf of themselves or others. It is the entrants’ responsibility to seek and ensure permission has been granted for the right to use the intellectual property of the brand or client entered. For categories recognising the performance of teams or consultancies rather than individuals or campaigns, financial and other figures should relate to your most recent financial year.
- Your entry must be submitted as a two-page PDF. There is no word-count but your entry must be contained to two pages of A4 to qualify. This can be designed as you like, and the judges will welcome creativity in approach. The file should not be larger than 30MB and must be uploaded to the 2022 MEPRA Awards platform https://mepra.awardsplatform.com
- You will also be asked to submit a 40 word and 100 word description and image for your entry which may be used for publication if shortlisted.
- You will be asked to upload your organizations and/or client’s logo to be used for publication. The logo must be submitted in a hi-res vector /ai. format
- All entries must be for work substantially completed between 1 October 2021 and the entry deadline (07th October 2022)
- Please make sure all your entry details are entered correctly, including organization and campaign name, as this will be used in the awards presentation and engraved on trophies if selected as a finalist or winner.
- You are eligible to enter more than one category for each campaign, as long as the work submitted meets the specific criteria of each category. You will receive a 50% discount on multiple submissions for the same entry.
- Entry fees may be paid by credit card or bank transfer. An invoice will be issued at time of completing submissions. If your submissions have not been paid for within five days of close of entry they will not be included for judging, unless otherwise agreed.
- MEPRA’s General Manager may carry out random due diligence checks on shortlisted entries, which will include confidential verification of information.
Entry Costs
Due to the continuing business impacts of COVID-19, MEPRA is providing a 20% discount on all award entries for members. The price per entry is now:
- Members: AED 720 per main entry
- Members: AED 360 per additional entry for same submission in each additional category
- Non-Members: AED1080 per main entry
- Non-Members AED 540 per additional entry for same submission in each additional category
Judging, Confidentiality & Publication
- All judges will sign confidentiality agreements prior to receiving your entries
- Organizations participating in the judging process are encouraged to enter the awards but will absent themselves from any discussion involving their organization or any organization in which they have an interest
- Judging criteria is clearly defined within each online entry, including score weighting
- A shortlist of the highest-scoring entries will be selected for each category. In each case, the winner will be the campaign with the highest score.
- An average score will be calculated based on the number of judges for that submission (judges will have to recluse themselves where there is a conflict of interest). 70% is required for an entry to be shortlisted. If there are more than 10 entries which receive 70% or above, only the top 10 will be shortlisted.
- An independent adjudicator will be appointed to review the judging process. This adjudicator will also be available to review any issues raised by entrants.
- The organizers reserve the right to publish submissions from the winners and shortlisted entrants. Where certain information is sensitive, such as budget figures, please mark ‘not for publication’.
The judges will be looking for clear objectives, creative and effective implementation and tangible and demonstrable results in the campaign award categories. They will also consider the structure, presentation and clarity of each entry.