Two Weeks to Deadline for Entry into 2016 UK Sponsorship Awards

There’s just two weeks go before the final deadline for entering the 2016 UK Sponsorship Awards (UKSA), medic the industry’s largest and most prestigious awards event.

The exact deadline is January 15, clinic 2016 with the event itself held at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square on March 22, 2016. Bookings and reservations are being taken now.

The 2016 Awards will celebrate the best campaigns across areas such as sport, media, the arts, community and PR.

But this year there are a number of new categories designed to reflect current trends within the business: Empowering Women Through Sport’, two categories designed to celebrate rugby union sponsorship and Best Use of Celebrity Endorsement.

“After the success of the recent 2015 Rugby World Cup, we wanted to reward those brands that have done an outstanding job of partnering the dynamic sport of rugby union, both in terms of the commercial benefits they have realised and what they have given back to the sport” says Rosemary Sarginson, organiser of the UKSAs. We are asking for your nominations for which sponsor you believe performed most effectively during the RWC2015.

“As for celebrity endorsement, our view is that the relationship between talent and sponsorship has become one of the most potent forces in 21st C. brand communications.”

Although the basic format of the UKSA event has stayed the same in recent years, the organising team has made a point of shaking up the categories: “In recent years we have introduced awards for entertainment, digital activation, innovation, sustainability and best consultancy,” says Sarginson.

“Our commitment to the future of the business was also the driving force behind the creation of the Barrie Gill Award for the Most Promising Young Sponsorship Executive, named after one of the industry’s most popular figures, now sadly gone.”

To ensure the most democratic result possible, the Awards also contain categories geared specifically towards small-to-medium sized enterprises. “If you look at our categories you’ll see numerous ways in which we have created an inclusive format,” says Sarginson.

“Sport, Brand and Consultancy are split into two price bands, for example, and there are also categories for low budget, first timer, grass roots, education, sustainability and community, all of which open the door to more tailored campaigns.”

One other important category is the Personality of the Year, which rewards the person deemed to have made the most significant contribution to the sponsorship industry in the last year. “The final decision is made by the judges,” says Sarginson, “but we ask for nominations from the industry.

So if you’d like to put someone’s name forward please email rosie@sponsorship-awards.co.uk with your nomination and reasons why.”

For more information on the Awards or to submit an entry, please go to www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk or email us at: info@sponsorship-awards.co.uk