Rewarding originality, craftsmanship and aesthetic values, in this category judges will be looking for great concepts and intelligent use of photography or illustration and layout. Only one piece of work can be entered at a time, so if you have a series of three advertisements and all are worthy, they’ll need to be supplied as three separate entries. Brochures and digital executions are included in this category.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a press ad, brochure or website we are looking for any marketing that demonstrates engaging, original and enticing copy. The best entries in this category will have captured the imagination of candidates or employees with intelligent and targeted writing. As with the art direction category, you will need to enter individual pieces of work rather than a campaign. Again, brochures and digital executions can be included in this category.

A series of work aimed at the same target audience over at least three different pieces of work. The campaign could cover print, digital and live events. If an identical advert is planned to hit the press a number of times or repeated across different media then it doesn't qualify. Graduate campaigns are also excluded from this category.

Recognises recruitment activity aimed at the graduate audience. This category often attracts large campaigns that include brochures, on-campus activities, DVDs and/or a range of marketing materials. One-off graduate advertisements should be entered into ‘medium-specific’ categories such as press or digital.

Recognising all work that has appeared out-of-home rather than in press or digital media, such as ambient media, posters, campus events and outdoor installations. This category is open to graduate campaigns.

Open to all recruitment campaigns/initiatives that makes use of digital media; so banners, email, interactive games and virtual environments are all included. Essentially, everything that isn't a website.

Recognises the work that goes into producing creative but usable websites that engage employees or future employees. This category includes recruitment microsites, career portals and extranets. To level the playing field a little, entries for this category have been split according to their budget and to enter you must have a budget of below £50,000 investment. The ‘budget’ is defined by investment from 2023 and doesn’t include ongoing development costs.

Recognises the work that goes into producing creative but usable websites that engage employees or future employees. This category includes recruitment microsites, career portals and extranets. To level the playing field a little, entries for this category have been split according to their budget and to enter your budget must be above £50,000 investment. The ‘budget’ is defined by investment from 2023 and doesn’t include ongoing development costs.

The way any company speaks to its employees is key and this category aims to find the best examples of that whether they be internal recruitment advertisements, induction programmes, referral schemes or intranets.  The judges will be looking for a real reflection of the company's culture and brand.

Open to all recruitment campaigns/initiatives that make use of social/professional networking media. This category considers the interaction with potential candidates, raising an employer's brand and the impact made through a creative use of social media.

This is about your ability to ‘impress’, using creativity to make the most out of your chosen print collateral. Whether it’s a brochure, flyer, poster, book, t-shirt or wall graphic we want to see innovative layout. Whilst also including inspired typography, pixel perfect photography, thought provoking infographics and much more... We also need to know how it has engaged with your audience and what results it has achieved!

This category is all about being heard, when you can’t be seen! Connecting on an emotional level, simplifying a process or driving engagement through audio is a key part of modern recruitment and talent management solutions. Whether you’ve produced a traditional radio campaign, run a live broadcast, developed a series of induction podcasts, created a voice control personal assistant or even recorded a song to boost application rates, we want to listen to your successes.   

This is all about putting content at the heart of what you do. Regardless of the format, can you showcase a strategic marketing approach focused on creating the right content, for the right audience, at the right time? Does your content plan help to attract talent, engage them for longer and drive a positive outcome?

It’s not about creating a sensory overload, it’s about using the variety of human senses to increase engagement levels, strengthen an employer brand, improve a company’s L&D and/or drive recruitment. The winner of this category could derive from an internal communications masterpiece, an outdoor recruitment campaign, an apprenticeship initiative etc, but it must make business ‘sense’ and fulfil a purpose.

This category recognises the best examples of video production and direction. Whether it is for internal purposes, to drive recruitment, promote an employer’s brand or communicate with existing staff, we’re looking for the industry’s finest video execution. To level the playing field a little, entries for this category have been split according to their budget and to enter you must have a budget of £5,000 or under investment. The ‘budget’ is defined by investment from 2023 and doesn’t include ongoing development costs.

This category recognises the best examples of video production and direction. Whether it is for internal purposes, to drive recruitment, promote an employer’s brand or communicate with existing staff, we’re looking for the industry’s finest video execution. To level the playing field a little, entries for this category have been split according to their budget and to enter you must have a budget of £5,001 - £15,000 investment. The ‘budget’ is defined by investment from 2023 and doesn’t include ongoing development costs.

This category recognises the best examples of video production and direction. Whether it is for internal purposes, to drive recruitment, promote an employer’s brand or communicate with existing staff, we’re looking for the industry’s finest video execution. To level the playing field a little, entries for this category have been split according to their budget and to enter you must have a budget of £15,001 + investment. The ‘budget’ is defined by investment from 2023 and doesn’t include ongoing development costs.

The world in which we work has changed and businesses are having to evolve in the contest of attracting and retaining talent. In this category, we are looking for initiatives that focus on implementing or further embedding a companies culture to new or existing colleagues. Whether it’s ensuring a cultural fit or humanising a business we are interested to find out what you’ve successfully done to inspire a positive culture.

Needle in a haystack, long odds, slim chance… you’ve got it! Effectively recruiting into an area that is notoriously difficult can often be the most rewarding but it usually requires the most effort and some unconventional thinking. We would love to see that moment of brilliance, that eureka moment, that campaign or initiative which defied those odds.    

A well-positioned employer brand can make a profound difference to an employer's recruitment and retention strategies. The creation of an effective employer brand poses many challenges and therefore, in addition to creativity, the judges will be looking for work that impacts the whole employee lifecycle from profile raising and attraction through to on-boarding and engagement. Evidence of this thinking, strategy and execution behind the brand, and how it's worked both inside and out of the organisation will be required.

This one is all about the results and how you’ve solved the impossible. This award recognises well-planned, well-designed and well-executed initiatives that have helped companies to achieve their talent acquisition goals i.e. it’s effectiveness. Measurable evidence of how the strategy and execution met the brief and its objectives will be required.

This award recognises advertisements, campaigns or initiatives that have successfully attracted or retained talent from diverse or under-represented backgrounds. Entries should show clear evidence of the promotion's performance against objectives. Such evidence could consist of raised awareness of diversity policies, internal opinion surveys, candidate response rates and ongoing initiatives that drive awareness of diversity and meet your objectives.

This award is for innovation in attracting early careers talent. This is all about the effective promotion of traineeships, apprenticeships and the methods used to interact, evaluate and bring on board early careers talent. Regardless of the media platforms used we are looking for an end-to-end creative initiative.

This award is open to all recruitment marketing initiatives created, managed and delivered by an in-house marketing team. Judges will be looking for an employer that has created well-planned, creative and effective recruitment and talent management campaigns across print, digital and/or events.

The science behind your successes, the code behind attracting candidates or the API automations that simplify application process. We are looking for true innovations that utilise the latest technologies or digital solutions to drive results. Whether you’ve imbedded a new applicant tracking system, devised an algorithm for advanced candidate mining or created specialist code for behavioural and geo-location targeting.

This award will be presented to the recruitment marketing agency that can best illustrate: an understanding of its clients' needs; evidence of successful client relationships; creativity and innovation; measurable successes; its ability to operate in line with best practice and equal opportunities.

We are looking for a recruitment agency that makes clients' lives easy by sourcing the very best talent on their behalf.