POPAI Awards - Judging the Awards

Since POPAI began organising the industry awards, our judging process is tougher, fairer and more rigorous than ever before.

Who are the judges?

The POPAI Awards will once again select marketers from some of the UK's leading retail brands. 

Watch this short video

How your work is judged

Your work is judged and nominated for an award according to POPAI’s set criteria by a panel of esteemed retail and brand professionals.

Each judge is allocated one or more categories. After a preliminary round of judging online, the panel of judges gather in London for a day of final judging, where there is the opportunity for full and fair discussion of initial nomination recommendations before a final selection is made. In the first round, entries are scored based on how well they perform against the set judging criteria.  For example, if entrants are unable to submit supporting evidence of return on investment, sales uplift, or positive client testimonials as a result of their work, then that entry will not be eligible to receive a Gold standard score.

The identities of individual entrants remain undisclosed to judges throughout the duration of the process.

Judging criteria

Judges are asked to consider several important factors when deciding on whether an entry is worthy of nomination including:

• How well does the entry meet the brief and satisfy both brand objectives and shopper needs?
• How well did the entry overcome practical in-store challenges and demonstrate original thinking?
• How well did the entry perform in terms of retail impact, was it well executed and relevant to its context?
• How well were brand and promotional messages communicated?
• Did it perform well against key performance measures?

Impressing the judges

Have a look at our top tips to increase your chances of winning:

• Take time to consider and compile a detailed case study that explains the important aspects of your work e.g. how it met objectives, creative thought process, key challenges, design and construction considerations, retail performance improvements achieved (sales uplift, greater brand awareness, removal of barriers to purchase, more informed shopper decision making etc.)
• Keep explanatory text short, clear and relevant
• Do NOT use any references to the entrant company within your entry submission
• Do NOT submit computer rendered images of your work – show finished work
• Show your work in situ within the retail environment and in its intended context
• Entries should be supported by high resolution, quality photographs providing sufficient visual detail to highlight key elements of your work
• Include video files to demonstrate practical use of your entry in its retail context.
• Ensure your work is presented in the best light, with photographs that demonstrate high retail standards e.g. stock loading, merchandising and appropriate in-store placement
• Remember – judges can only critique entries based on the information they are given and will NEVER be from that particular category so explain any nuances.

Check out the Awards Entry Guide for more information including a criteria entry table which measures each criteria.

>> Back to everything you need to know about entering the POPAI Awards