UKSA launches expanded Rights Holder Awards section for 2024: celebrating the role of arts venues, media owners and sports rights holders

The UK Sponsorship Awards organising team is revamping its Rights Holder Awards segment in a move that will celebrate the massive contribution that venues, clubs and media owners make towards the health and dynamism of the sponsorship industry.

Launched to coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the UK Sponsorship Awards in 2024, there will be three rights holders awards up for grabs. If this new track of awards gains traction, the rights holder segment will be further expanded in 2025.

The three awards on offer are for: Arts Rights Holder, Media Rights Holder and Sports Rights Holder. Unlike the majority of UKSA’s awards, these three new categories will not focus on the strength of a single campaign. Instead, they will look at the success of organisations as facilitators of sponsorship across the entire year.

Commenting, UKSA organiser Rosemary Sarginson said: “Over the years, the UK Sponsorship Awards has established itself as the benchmark by which the industry measures the creativity and effectiveness of individual sponsorship campaigns. But many organisations are doing great work day in day out without ever having a single ‘hero’ campaign that they can point to. Sometimes, in addition, there are commercial and political sensitivities internally that make it difficult for them to highlight the success of a particular sponsorship programme. This new set of awards rectifies that fact – by inviting rights holders to showcase their capabilities in the round.”

The new awards are, in effect, a mirror image of UKSA’s consultancy categories, which have proved hugely popular since their introduction. Like the consultancy categories, UKSA’s judges will look at everything individual rights holders have done to make their platform more appealing to sponsors. They will look at new business wins, returning clients, and examples of creativity and innovation. Overall, the new awards are an opportunity to shine the spotlight on a broader range of industry work.

Sarginson said: “Full category criteria will be released when the 2024 awards launch in September. But as an illustration, the Arts Rights Holder award might celebrate a cultural venue that has revamped its approach to individual exhibitions, securing a new profile of sponsor. The Media Rights Holder category could be a broadcaster, radio station or social media platform that has created innovative branded content opportunities for sponsors. In Sports, the winner could be a club that has reorganised its official provider tier and secured important new revenues as a result.”

The 2024 UK Sponsorship Awards is the 30^th anniversary of this prestigious industry event. Entries open in September, at which point more details will be provided.