Entry Deadline: Jan. 21, 2022

Audiences are inundated with digital content on a daily basis.

PR Daily’s Social Media & Digital Awards will honor the organizations, people and teams who excel at capturing the attention of these busy viewers, leading to business success.

This is your opportunity to showcase your digital prowess and earn recognition for your campaigns and content that cut through the noise on the crowded digital landscape and engaged audiences.

PR Daily will recognize the best digital storytellers of the past year in dozens of categories. Does your work belong on this list?

If you’ve created compelling content, it’s time to gather up your best social media and digital communications work from the past year and enter PR Daily’s Social Media & Digital Awards! Don’t miss the January 21, 2022, entry deadline.

CATEGORIES

CAMPAIGNS AND CATEGORIES

 Annual Report

It’s difficult to deliver essential information while simultaneously conveying what makes your organization amazing—but you captured the essence of your organization in your annual report. What story did your report tell? We want to hear it.

 Augmented/Virtual Reality

You brought new meaning to the “try it before you buy it” mantra. Let us know why an immersive experience was the best way to engage your audience, and share your success.

 Blog

Tell us why your blog is a destination for your target audience. Why does your content provide the most relevant information? How do you keep readers coming back for more? Do you use visuals to entice your audience? Do you provide practical facts and tips? Include statistical analysis or metrics and links to at least three blog posts you’ve created for your organization or client.

 Brand Awareness

Explain how you used to social media platforms or digital marketing to create a community of loyal customers. How did you turn followers into advocates for your brand? Tell us your goals, strategy and results. We want to see your flawless creative execution and the data to back it up.

 Cause Marketing/CSR

Tell us about a cause that was underrepresented. How did you use digital communication to advocate for an important social issue? How did you get your employees enthusiastically on-board? Did it help you raise money, awareness or inspire others to get involved?

 Community Engagement

You tapped into your company, client or agency’s roots to discover local tastemakers, influencers and leaders. How did you engage a community of people and help them develop an affinity for your organization? Tell us how you engaged a network of people using social and digital media. Please include posts, examples of interactions and statistics from your measurement

 Content Marketing

How did you develop a content strategy that expressed your organization’s expertise? Tell us how you transferred this stream of interesting stories to social media. Include examples and metrics.

 Contest or Game

You created an online contest or game to promote your brand. What prize or service did you offer the winner? Was this for an internal or external audience? Show us how you promoted this across platforms to maximize your reach. Include metrics which highlight the number of participants or contestants. How did that increase brand loyalty or awareness?

 Crisis Management

Communicating effectively during a crisis is essential—and this past year has not been lacking in the crisis department. How did you use social media or other digital platforms to share an honest and transparent message? Why was this effective and what were the results?

 Digital Community Engagement

Were you instrumental in creating a digital destination where like-minded people could connect? Did you help your employees stay connected during WFH? How did you foster an online community that users loved? What did you do to keep up engagement? This could be for an internal or external audience.

 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Campaign

 Email Marketing Campaign

How did you re-imagine your email marketing strategy to get dramatic results? Did you promote a product, event or brand? What made it successful? We want to see a powerful, memorable, well-designed email that got the job done far beyond your expectations.

 Email Newsletter

Inboxes are infiltrated daily by messaging from numerous outside sources. How did you keep your newsletter from being dragged immediately into the digital dumpster? We want to hear about it. Share metrics and other pertinent information.

 Employee Engagement

Tell us how your digital efforts increased workplace collaboration and encouraged new business ideas. Did your internal site redesign increase cooperation? We want to know how you engaged employees through digital channels and achieved business results.

 Facebook

How did you make use of the world’s largest social network for your client or organization? Tell us your strategy for using Facebook to share your message and create an engaged community. How does your Facebook page enhance your PR and marketing strategy? Entries for this category do not need to focus on a specific campaign.

 Healthcare Marketing Campaign

How did you illustrate the talent and tirelessness of the healthcare marketing pros in your organization? Did you publish stories about miracle patients? Did you raise awareness about community health issues? Tell us how you used digital media to engage prospective patients and brand your healthcare organization’s practice in a field or discipline of medicine as one of the most trusted in your city, state, or region.

 Influencer Campaign

How did you work with digital influencers to increase brand awareness within your target audience? Tell us your strategy for finding the right tastemakers to represent your brand. What content did you collaborate on and what were the results?

 Instagram

Your organization’s Instagram account speaks volumes about your brand’s aesthetic and who its customers are. How did you make yours stand out? Did you use Instagram to display and sell products or to share an inside look at day-to-day operations? What was your special Instagram strategy and what kind of results have you seen? We want to know how you used this popular visual platform to connect with your consumers.

 Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are an opportunity for your brand to show personality and share longer form content. How did you use Instagram Stories to enhance your social media presence this year? Did you create custom GIFs, use special templates or post videos to IGTV? Share your strategy and results.

 Interactive Content

You cut through the noise and kept audiences engaged with your interactive content. This created a more personalized experience and provided value to your audience—and your organization or client. What content did you use? What were the overall goals? Share with us how your tailored experience delivered incredible results.

 Intranet

All too often, organizations’ internal hubs become digital wastelands where information goes to die. This wasn’t the case for yours. Tell us how you made your intranet an essential, engaging destination for employees.

 LinkedIn

We want to hear how you used the premier professional networking site to deliver impressive campaigns, projects and initiatives. Was your marketing campaign incredibly successful on the platform? Was this the perfect channel for delivering your organization’s content? Did your efforts help attract and retain the industry’s top talent? We want to hear all about it.

 Marketing Campaign

We’re seeking marketing campaigns with strong digital elements. How did you make your brand or product’s presence known in the over-saturated online world? Send us the results of your killer online marketing campaign. The goals of your campaign should be clearly stated, and measures of success must be included.

 Media Relations Campaign

Tell us how you collaborated with journalists and storytellers to get your brand’s message out there. Did you work with influencers, subject matter experts or academics to reach a larger audience? Did you earn media placement in a newspaper or magazine? How did you make an extra push to establish relationships with journalists? Start with the goals of your campaign and how you achieved them.

 Mobile App

You met your audience where they are—on their phones. How did you make your mobile app a brand experience? Tell us how you used mobile technology to provide or promote a service to your audience. Did you use your mobile app to engage and inform them? Tell us about your mobile content, design and features. Show us why your mobile app has users reaching for their phones—on their way to work, at work and after work.

 Most Engaged Brand

You dove right into the online conversation and stayed in tune with your audience. How did you stay engaged with your audience? What innovative tactics or campaigns did you implement to make sure your finger was on the pulse? Share goals, strategy and results.

 Multichannel Campaign

We want to see campaigns that performed well across several platforms. Why was your project best suited for a more than one channel? Tell us your plan and which mediums made the most sense for your work. How did you alter your message for different platforms? How did it reach a broader audience?

 Online Event

Share your secrets for promoting an event that everyone wants to attend—live or online. How did you build buzz and brand awareness using social media, video or contests to excite attendees? We want to know your event hashtag, attendee numbers and post-event results.

 Online Newsroom/Brand Journalism

Did you develop an online newsroom with up-to-the-minute updates and fresh takes on industry news? Tell us what makes yours the go-to digital newsroom for people in your industry. Include examples and metrics.

 Paid Social Media Campaign

You got your content in front of the right eyes on social media channels. We want to hear about the tactics and strategies that made your paid social media campaign pay off for your organization or clients. Share the details.

 Personalized Marketing Campaign

Digging into the data lets you identify what audiences really want to see. Generic content won’t captivate busy audiences, so you went with a more personal touch. Tell us how.

 Podcast

You inspired an audience to listen up. Your podcast tells your brand’s story and publicizes your organization. What does your podcast intend to teach or share? Tell us about your expectations and how they matched up with your listener count. How do you engage and incentivize your listeners on multiple platforms? Share your strategy for generating a continuous conversation.

 Public Affairs Campaign

Your work built and maintained your organization’s or client’s reputation and influenced public policy. Tell us how you used digital channels to achieve success.

 Public Relations Campaign

How did you use digital PR to inform audiences about your product or service? What were your campaign goals? Did it solve a problem or launch a new product? Tell us about your intended audience, your creative vision, strategy, execution and results.

 Recruitment

 SEO Strategy

You got your content into front of eyes and in prime locations in search engine results. How did you get top rankings on search engines? We want to hear your strategy and the secrets to your SEO success.

 Social Listening and Real-Time Response

In order to understand your audience, you have to listen to it. Tell us about your social listening strategy and how you’ve been able to use that information to engage in real-time conversations with your audience. Is social listening a part of your online customer care strategy? Did it help you during a crisis? What tools do you use? Share examples and feedback that prove this strategy is working.

 Social Media Campaign

You wanted to engage a specific audience, so you found them where they spend most of their time – on social media. Who did you target and what platforms do they use? Was this a multi-channel campaign? Did you use video, text or photos to entice your desired audience? Tell us your plan, show us your content and give us data to back up your success.

 Specialty Campaign

Did you launch a campaign aimed at a consumer group last year? How did your custom-made message strike a chord in that audience? Who did you reach? Tell us how you reached your ideal consumers, and how you tailored a message just for them.

 TikTok

How did you tap into TikTok's quick-hitting visual stories? We want to hear how you used this visual platform to engage your audiences.

 Twitter

Do you use Twitter to build a following for your client or organization, handle a crisis or deliver news? How do your tweets fit into your PR and marketing strategy? How do you use Twitter to interact with customers in real time? Entries for this category need not focus on a campaign. We want to see your most interactive, inviting Twitter accounts.

 Video

How did you use video to enhance your PR? Tell us your vision for video as well as your execution. Did you share it on Instagram, on YouTube, in emails or at a live event? Were you seeking increased brand awareness or did you want to inspire action? Give us the details on how it increased engagement on your site or social platforms.

 Visual Storytelling

Your visuals told powerful stories. Tell us how you captivated digital audiences using stunning visual designs. Where did you deliver your content, and how did you get audiences to engage with these visuals? Tell us your plan, show us your visuals and give us data to back up your success.

 Voice Search Campaign

You optimized your product or service for voice search, and it got people … talking. What made voice search so crucial to your success? What tactics did you employ? What was the overall strategy? We want to know how you tapped into the power of voice search and achieved success.

 Website

Your digital hub caught the attention of audiences. Tell us what makes your site a go-to destination for your audience. Be sure to share metrics, visuals and content.

 Wellness Campaign

GRAND PRIZE

 Digital Agency of the Year

Your agency’s services delivered incredibly successful campaigns for your client(s). How did you navigate the digital stratosphere? What tactics and strategies did you employ that earned engagement across digital channels? Why was yours the best digital agency?

 Digital Communicator of the Year

You masterminded strategic campaigns across digital channels that achieved outstanding success for your organization or client(s). What tactics did you employ? On which channels did you excel? What made you the best communicator in the digital realm? We want to hear about it.

 Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year

Your campaign demonstrated communications expertise, creativity and a distinct point-of-view. You created a digital campaign that delighted your audience and startled your competition. Tell us about it. Outline your goals, strategy, execution, and results. The Campaign of the Year Award will honor the communicator, department or agency whose campaign caused a stir. Your concept must be groundbreaking. your implementation inventive, unexpected and even daring.

 Digital Team of the Year

Your team’s collaborative efforts returned impressive results for your organization or client(s). How did you get everyone on the same page to create a killer digital campaign? What obstacles did you have to overcome? What made your team the industry’s best group of digital communicators?

 Social Media Campaign of the Year

We want to know how you brought all the pieces together into your best social media campaign. The grand prize winner will go to an exceptional campaign that was stunningly executed on two or more platforms. Our judges will look for creativity, innovation, sound communication and, of course, data and metrics.

 Social Media Do-er of the Year

 Social Media Influencer of the Year

 Social Media Strategist of the Year

HOW TO ENTER

Campaigns Entry

On the entry form, please include a thorough synopsis explaining the purpose and scope of your entry. Tell us why your campaign, content or strategy should be selected as the winner. We ask that the synopsis is a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 1,000 words and includes the following sub-headings (when applicable).

  • Goals
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Execution
  • Evaluation: success, results or ROI

People or Teams Entry

If submitting a nomination on behalf of yourself, your team, or another individual, tell us in 300 to 1,000 words about the nominee’s or team's work in the previous 12 months. Please include examples of projects or initiatives that have proved beneficial to their organization and have distinguished them among their peers. When applicable, please include the following sub-headings:

  • Goals
  • Strategy and tactics
  • Execution
  • Evaluation: success, results or ROI

You also may include other information that you feel strengthens your entry.

Be sure to follow the guidelines laid out in the category descriptions, as the judges will look for those elements when they select the winners.

You will be able to upload additional documents to your submission. We encourage you to include press releases, design concepts, videos, analytics, testimonials and anything else you feel will give us a better sense of your project. Proprietary or internal information can also be attached and will not be shared with the public.

Supporting documents that can’t be uploaded to the system should be mailed to:

Brendan Gannon
Ragan Communications
10 S. LaSalle St., Suite 310
Chicago, IL 60603

ENTER

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

These awards are open to in-house, agency and independent communication practitioners in the private, corporate, nonprofit and government sectors. Enter your work, the work of your organization or submit entries on behalf of your client.

Companies from around the world are welcome to enter as long as the entry is submitted in English.

Contact Brendan Gannon to find the perfect category for your campaign or project. You can call 312-960-4407 or email brendang@ragan.com.

This year’s program is open to any work executed between Jan. 1, 2021, and Jan. 21, 2022, inclusive.

ENTRY FEES

The fee for this program is $425 per entry.

A late fee of $199 per entry will be added to all entries after 11:59 p.m. Central time, Jan. 21, 2022.

Do you have an campaign, project, individual or team you'd like to enter into multiple categories? Pay the original entry fee, and then only $199 for each additional category!

All entries are non-returnable and non-refundable.

W-9 Form / Tax ID Number Request

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should you apply?
Our award programs help you measure the success of your work and prove the value of your contributions to your organization or clients. You can set yourself apart in the industry as an expert, which will open doors throughout your career. As a winner, you’ll earn publicity across our websites and social media audiences, a custom write-up about your success and a trophy.
Who can enter?
Global organizations are welcomed—this awards program recognizes companies, individuals and teams, worldwide, as long as the entry is submitted in English.  These awards are open to in-house, agency and independent communication practitioners in the private, corporate, nonprofit and government sectors. Enter your work, the work of your organization or submit entries on behalf of your client.
What does it take to be a winner?
We are looking for top-quality initiatives, campaigns, individuals or teams that show clear, bold and creative ideas that benefit their business or client. Please provide metrics and results that back up your claims, and share creative collateral such as photos, videos, testimonials of your work. Please look at our past award winners to see what gets recognized and rewarded. We encourage you to submit the same program, initiative, individual or team into multiple categories, if you feel they are relevant. Doing so increases your chances of winning.
What are the entry requirements?
Tell us in 300-1,000 words about your work in the previous 12 months. See the How To Enter section for further information. You may also include supporting materials you believe will help our judges evaluate your entry.
Why are some deadlines extended?
We extend deadlines based on applicant needs and upcoming promotional opportunities.
When will I find out results?
Finalists will be announced in spring 2022, with a winners' announcement one month after the finalist announcement. Announcements will be made with a headline on our website, in our daily email newsletter and on our social media platforms. Emails notify entrants of these announcements. As deadlines are extended, so are expected announcement dates.

Additional Questions

If you have any questions about the program or problems submitting your entry, please call Brendan Gannon at 312-960-4407 or email brendang@ragan.com.

Sponsorship Opportunities

If you are interested in sponsoring one of Ragan Communications’ award programs, please contact Hannah Lavelle at 312-960-4628 or email hannahl@ragan.com.

Ragan Communications is not responsible for international shipping fees related to trophies or certificates.