Two Weeks To Go Until Early Bird Deadline For The UK Sponsorship Awards 2017 - December 16th

New Categories Include Diversity, Naming Rights, Branded Content, Film & Mass Participation

Also A Special Award To Celebrate Rio Sponsors And A New Category Targeting Rights Owners

There are just over two weeks left until the Early Bird Deadline for the UK Sponsorship Awards (UKSA) 2017. Several new categories are available to enter and there will also be a dedicated category for Rio Olympic sponsors. In addition, the “Targeting Women Through Sport” category will be extended to cover all sponsorships irrespective of their sector and has been retitled Best Sponsorship of Women's Activities.

UKSA organiser Rosemary Sarginson says: “The final deadline for entry in 2017 is on January 16th. But our Early Bird Deadline on December 16th is an opportunity to get your entries sorted out before the holiday season – and to receive a discount. So if you have a great campaign that you want to enter don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team and discuss your plans.”

The Olympics-themed Award will be for Best Use of Sponsorship at Rio 2016, echoing a similar Award that was created after London 2012. This is open to sponsors involved with both the Olympics and Paralympics. Other new categories this year include Best Use of Branded Content and Best Film Sponsorship: “The expansion of our media section reflects the growing importance of this areas of the business,” says Sarginson. “There will now be five media-related categories covering TV, print and radio, branded content, film and digital.”

Best Use of Naming Rights is also new for UKSA 2017, as are Best E-Sports Sponsorship and Harnessing The Power Of The Crowd – The Most Effective Use Of Mass Participation Sponsorship. The UKSA organisers are also committed to supporting Diversity – which is why this year will see the extension of the Targeting Women category and the introduction of a Diversity & Inclusion category. The latter aims to reward brands that have made a genuine commitment to inclusiveness in areas such as LGBT, BAME and disability.

Finally, there will also be a brand new Rights Holder Award. Judges will reward organisations that have a clear understanding of the identification and profile of their audiences, who have mined, sliced and diced their databases to ensure that they are sending the most appropriate and effective messages to engage fans with their sponsor partners.

In addition to the new categories, all of the usual categories will be up for grabs (sports, arts, PR, etc.). Details on how to enter can be found on the Awards website. Shortlists are announced on February 16th 2017 and the event itself is on March 28th 2017 and will take place at the London Marriott Hotel.

Criteria for all of the Awards can be found under the category section of the UK Sponsorship Awards website – http://www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk/categories

If you can’t decide which category to enter, the Awards team is more than happy to help, so please call on 020 8891 1067