Clear answers about jury independence, evaluation, audience voting, winner selection and the award ceremony.
Yes. A jury member may represent an organisation or agency participating in the competition. However, they must not evaluate or influence the result of any project in which they have a direct or indirect interest.
For that project, the jury member is automatically:
During jury deliberations, the exclusion is clearly indicated by a red card.
A conflict of interest exists whenever a jury member’s professional, financial or personal relationship could affect, or appear to affect, their impartiality.
This includes projects:
Jury members must declare potential conflicts before evaluation begins and immediately report any conflict that becomes apparent later.
Jury members are responsible for declaring their own conflicts. The Jury President and Jury Secretary may also identify a conflict and require the jury member to withdraw from the relevant evaluation, discussion and vote.
When impartiality is reasonably in doubt, the jury member is excluded from the decision.
An excluded jury member must not participate in or influence the discussion. The Jury President or moderator may ask them to leave the room temporarily while the relevant project is being discussed and voted on.
Their exclusion is recorded in the official jury minutes.
Yes. Every eligible jury member has one vote. Jury members who have declared a conflict of interest are excluded only from decisions affected by that conflict.
The Jury President has a deciding Golden Vote only when an eligible vote ends in a tie.
No. During the preliminary evaluation, each finalist is assessed by at least eight jury members, with an average of twelve independent evaluations per project.
The preliminary score therefore reflects the views of a broad and professionally diverse group of jurors, rather than the opinion of a single person or three-member panel.
The assigned jurors follow the presentation, ask relevant questions and record observations about the project’s strengths, weaknesses and distinctive qualities.
They do not formally rescore the project after the live pitch. Their observations provide additional context for the final jury deliberation.
Attendance at finalist presentations is mandatory.
A jury member who misses a presentation due to a justified last-minute circumstance may participate in the subsequent discussion only after viewing the complete official recording of the presentation.
If this cannot be arranged before the deliberation, the jury member must not discuss or vote on that project.
No. The preliminary jury score remains the project’s official jury score.
The live pitch gives finalists an opportunity to explain their project, clarify information and answer questions. The jury records these additional insights and considers them during the final deliberation where permitted by the competition rules.
Projects are evaluated on twelve criteria:
Each criterion is scored from 1 to 10.
Yes. All twelve criteria carry equal weight in the preliminary evaluation.
Scores are aggregated automatically by the official evaluation platform to produce the project’s overall jury score.
Projects are ranked according to their aggregated preliminary jury scores. For the 2026 competition, the minimum score required to qualify as a finalist is 6.01.
Reaching the minimum score does not automatically guarantee a place in the final if the number of eligible projects exceeds the available finalist places.
No individual jury member can independently determine the result. Each project receives at least eight evaluations, and the final preliminary score is based on the aggregated results.
The Jury President and Jury Secretary verify the integrity and completeness of the scoring process before the finalists are confirmed.
Yes. The organiser may reassign a project if another category more accurately reflects its purpose, audience or format.
Category reassignment is intended to ensure a fair and meaningful comparison. It does not change the official evaluation criteria.
The final result follows the 80:20 model:
The basic formula is:
Final score = (jury score × 0.80) + (audience score × 0.20).
The audience component is included only when the project reaches the required voting threshold.
A project must receive at least 60% of the valid audience votes cast in its pitching room for its audience result to qualify.
The threshold is calculated separately for each room, based on the valid votes cast by the audience present there. The moderator explains the procedure before voting begins.
Each room is treated as a separate voting group. The threshold is therefore based on the proportion of valid votes cast in that room, rather than the absolute number of votes. This prevents projects presented in larger rooms from gaining an automatic advantage.
Yes. Audience voting is anonymous and conducted through the official event voting system.
Each eligible audience member may cast one vote in the relevant voting round. The results are processed and verified by the organising team.
Voting is conducted through the official event system and limited to eligible audience members. The system and organising team verify the number of votes and remove invalid or duplicate submissions before the result is confirmed. Only verified valid votes are included in the calculation.
No. A finalist that does not present the project live and in person is not eligible to receive the audience component of the final score.
This ensures that audience voting is based on the same live presentation experience for all eligible finalists.
The ranking in the main categories is based on the final score calculated under the 80:20 model.
The mathematically highest-ranked project wins first place. The jury may consider changing the order of second and third place only when the difference between the projects is 0.15 points or less. Any change requires an absolute majority.
The mathematical score determines the ranking and normally takes precedence. The highest-scoring eligible project is therefore the winner of the subcategory.
In an exceptional case, the jury may override the mathematical result if an absolute majority concludes that the ranking does not appropriately reflect the quality of the projects. The decision must be explained and recorded in the official minutes.
Only one winner may be selected in each subcategory.
No. A subcategory award is presented only if at least three eligible projects are entered in that subcategory. This ensures meaningful competition and preserves the credibility of the award.
The non-anonymous jury survey covers the jury-selected Special Awards SA4–SA12:
The survey is sent to all jury members immediately after live pitching concludes.
The organising team processes the survey results and prepares a shortlist of the three leading candidates in each relevant Special Award category.
At the jury meeting, jurors see the shortlisted projects and the distribution of votes. After a focused discussion, eligible jury members vote to select one winner in each category.
These three awards follow separate selection procedures:
The organising team presents the three projects with the highest qualifying overall results.
The jury then considers which project represents a genuine industry benchmark through its originality, execution, impact and ability to move the industry forward. After deliberation, eligible jury members select the Grand Prix winner by vote.
An agency receives points for awards won by its projects:
The agency with the highest total is presented for confirmation. Jury members with a direct conflict of interest involving the agency are excluded from the discussion and vote.
The Jury President may first request a repeat vote or further discussion.
If the result remains tied, the Jury President uses the Golden Vote. If the Jury President has a conflict of interest, the deciding vote is transferred to an approved independent jury member.
Yes. The jury may withhold an award if it concludes that none of the eligible projects reaches the standard required for that category. The decision must be justified and recorded in the official jury minutes.
The Golden Vote is a deciding vote used only when an eligible jury vote ends in a tie.
Before using it, the Jury President may request additional discussion or a repeat vote. If the result remains tied, the Jury President casts the Golden Vote to reach a final decision.
If the Jury President has a conflict of interest concerning the project, they must withdraw from the discussion and voting. In that case, the Golden Vote is delegated to an approved independent jury member who has no connection to any of the projects concerned.
The Golden Vote does not give the Jury President additional influence during regular voting. It is used exclusively to resolve a deadlock.
Entrants must not attempt to influence jury members outside the official evaluation and presentation process.
Jury members must report any lobbying attempt to the Jury President. A breach may result in sanctions, including the exclusion of a project or the removal of a jury member.
No. Individual scores, preliminary results and jury deliberations remain confidential.
Confidentiality protects the independence of individual jurors and allows open professional discussion. The official process, criteria and aggregated results may be communicated without disclosing confidential individual voting data.
Yes. The Jury Secretariat prepares and archives an official record of the evaluation and decision-making process. The record includes voting outcomes, declared conflicts of interest, recusals and any exceptional decisions made by the jury. Digital scoring and voting data are also securely retained.
The Jury President safeguards the independence, fairness and ethical integrity of the jury’s work.
The Jury Secretary coordinates the process, verifies compliance with the rules, manages documentation and maintains the official records. A professional moderator ensures structured discussion and equal opportunities for jurors to contribute.
Yes. Jury members commit to impartiality, confidentiality, professional conduct and the disclosure of conflicts of interest. They must base their decisions exclusively on the official criteria and the merits of each project. Serious breaches may result in removal from the jury and exclusion from future editions.
Yes. Any AI-assisted or tool-generated content used in the event or competition entry must be disclosed.Entrants must explain what was generated or assisted, how it was used and why. The use of AI does not automatically disadvantage a project, but transparency is required.
Yes. Entrants must disclose the roles of the relevant partners and confirm that they hold the necessary rights to submitted photographs, videos, music, trademarks and other materials.
Providing misleading information or materials without the required rights may lead to sanctions.
The jury’s professional judgment and final selection of winners are final. They cannot be challenged simply because an entrant disagrees with the result.
A formal complaint may nevertheless be submitted when there is credible evidence that the published procedure or ethical rules were breached. It must be submitted in writing within 15 days of the award ceremony and include supporting evidence.
The organising team compiles concise feedback based on the jury’s evaluations and observations. The purpose is to help entrants understand the strengths of their project and identify opportunities for future improvement.
According to the current jury guidelines, consolidated feedback should be provided within 14 days after the competition.
The results remain strictly confidential until the official award ceremony.
Before the announcement, access is limited to authorised jury members and designated members of the organising and technical teams. Jury members must not disclose, suggest or discuss winners publicly in advance.
Yes. A jury member may receive an award on stage if they are also an authorised representative of the winning organisation, agency or project team.
However, they must have been fully excluded from every stage of the evaluation, discussion and voting concerning that project. Their conflict of interest and exclusion must be recorded in the official jury documentation.
When accepting the award, they do so exclusively as a representative of the winning team, not in their capacity as a jury member.
Not if the conflict was declared in advance and the jury member was fully excluded from the relevant evaluation and decision.
The organising team must be able to demonstrate that the jury member:
This separation protects both the jury member and the credibility of the competition.
No. A jury member must not present an award in any category involving their own project, organisation, agency, client or professional partner.
The organiser will appoint an independent presenter who has no connection to the nominated projects.
Yes, provided the two categories are unrelated and no conflict of interest exists.
A jury member must never present an award for a category in which their own project or organisation is nominated. The ceremony schedule should be checked in advance to prevent any actual or perceived conflict.
The award may be accepted by an authorised representative of the winning project, agency, client or partner organisation.
Finalists should inform the organising team in advance who will receive the award. More members of the winning team may join the recipient on stage if permitted by the ceremony protocol and available stage capacity.
The award officially recognises the winning project and the organisation or organisations credited in the competition entry. The person collecting the trophy does so on behalf of the winning team and does not acquire any separate rights by appearing on stage.
The result remains valid. Absence from the award ceremony does not affect the jury’s decision or the project’s status as a winner.
An authorised representative may accept the award on the winner’s behalf. If no representative is available, the organiser will retain the trophy and arrange its collection or delivery after the ceremony.
No. Results remain confidential until they are officially announced on stage.
Jury members, organising staff and technical personnel with access to the results must not disclose, confirm or suggest the identity of a winner before the official announcement.
The host announces the official project title, award category and credited organisation or organisations exactly as registered and confirmed before the ceremony.
The person accepting the award does not replace or alter the official credits of the winning project.
No. The ceremony is the official announcement of decisions that have already been confirmed and recorded.
Only an obvious administrative or production error, such as displaying the wrong project title, may be corrected. Such a correction must be authorised and publicly clarified by the organiser.
Yes. Once the result has been officially announced on stage, winners may communicate it publicly.
Before the announcement, all finalists, jury members and other individuals with advance access to ceremony information must respect the confidentiality embargo.
All winners should receive the same basic level of recognition, including a clear announcement, presentation of the trophy and an official photo opportunity.
Stage access, speaking time and additional protocol should be managed consistently. Any necessary limitations must be communicated to finalists before the ceremony.
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