Creative campaigns designed to specifically attract emerging talent in school leaver, apprentice (includes degree apprenticeships), intern, placement and non-graduate recruitment.

Judges are looking for entries that clearly define their target audience and how they have been engaged. They will want to understand the organisation’s long-term plans for this audience, platforms and channels used and evidence that it has engaged with relevant stakeholders, such as pupils, teachers or parents.

This award recognises the efforts of employers to offer an outstanding, valuable and distinctive experience for every candidate prior to application, throughout the attraction and hiring process. We are looking for evidence of a well-planned, well-executed experience that is consistent across one or multiple stages of the candidate journey. We’d also like to see evidence of candidate engagement, and to understand how improvements were made. Entrants should also demonstrate how the experience enhances and amplifies the Employer Brand.

Judges will also be looking for a sense of the impact the experience is having on candidates, and evidence of effectiveness.

Whether it’s for a big campaign idea or a one-off execution, this category recognises brilliant conceptual thinking. Effectiveness is not key here. Instead we’re celebrating the creative ideas that go beyond the expected and demonstrate how we can convey messages and experiences in bolder, braver and more compelling ways.

Judges are looking for a clear outline of the problem that needed solving, a smart creative solution, and evidence that the idea was in fact used.

Employee engagement is critical and this category seeks to recognise excellence in the field. We want to see examples of how organisations keep people motivated, confident and connected to the business both functionally and emotionally. Any work produced for employers wishing to communicate with employees can be entered, in any media.

This category is also open to internal comms work that promotes in-house initiatives, for example employee referral schemes.

Judges are looking for a clear outline of the project, the objectives, audience and methodology. Entries need to be clear around how the project reflects the employer brand and workplace culture of the organisation and provide evidence of effectiveness.

This category celebrates excellence in employer brand development at an international level. We’re looking for employers that demonstrate how their brand has delivered real business benefit through insight, testing and execution. Entries can focus on the launch of a new employer brand or the evolution an existing one.

Judges are looking for clear methodology which involved consultation with the appropriate stakeholders, examples of how creative executions reflect the EVP and examples of effective local tuning.

Entries should include consistent creative messaging and delivery with a clear creative strategy to engage audiences both internally and externally.

This category celebrates excellence in employer brand development at a national level. We’re looking for employers that demonstrate how their brand has delivered real business benefit through insight, testing and execution. Entries can focus on the launch of a new employer brand or the evolution an existing one.

Judges are looking for clear methodology which involved consultation with the appropriate stakeholders and examples of how creative executions reflect the brand. Entries should include consistent creative messaging and delivery with a clear creative strategy to engage audiences both internally and externally.

Employer branding has matured from its roots in transactional advertising into something much more holistic and akin to brand marketing.

This category celebrates a strategic, challenge-led approach to research and insight that sets the standard not just within employer branding, but beyond.

Submissions should demonstrate how research was shaped by a specific client challenge, incorporating audience insight, competitor analysis, and the broader industry landscape. Judges will look for a clear and thoughtful process, a compelling core insight, and how that insight informed the brand strategy. 

Provide an articulation of the challenge and how the research and insight approach was tailored to solve it. Crucially, entries must show measurable effectiveness — whether in shifting perception, driving engagement, or delivering tangible business outcomes.

This category is for employer websites dedicated to recruiting experienced hires and early talent.

Judges are looking for sites that provide jobseekers with a brand-based candidate experience that conveys the workplace culture in the design and copy. They will want to learn how jobseekers are engaged, how they are directed to relevant pages and whether personalisation has been considered.

The site’s technical quality will be considered, including responsive design and user experience, as will the quality of relevant content for all audience segments and evidence of effectiveness.

Please include the website URL in your entry and indicate the area you wish to be judged.

Entries into this category will demonstrate a commitment to supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce in terms of attraction and/or engagement. They may be either communication campaigns or initiatives.

Judges are looking for evidence of an effective and clear response to a specific challenge by the organisation, to understand the target audience and the rationale for the channels used. Creativity and innovation is also sought.

This category covers all recruitment marketing events or experiences, whether face-to-face or virtual. We are looking for work that uses creativity and context to capture the essence of the employer brand, enhancing the target audiences’ perception. Entries may be standalone or part of an integrated campaign.

Judges are looking to understand why the method to engage the target audience was chosen, how the event or experience fits into the broader recruitment marketing strategy, and to gain insights into how the experience made an impact on the brand. Creativity and evidence of effectiveness are important.

This category celebrates outstanding craft across all forms of employer communications and marketing. Entries may span any medium — from print and digital to video and beyond — but must clearly demonstrate exceptional skill, care, and creative effort. Whether it's a beautifully executed single asset or a cohesive series — visually striking print, compelling copywriting, or distinctive art direction in photography or film — the focus is on the craft behind the creation.

Judges are looking for submissions that feel unique and impactful, the rationale for the approach and to understand the demonstrable effort and care undertaken to craft the work, for example, the complexity, time and an ambition to push outputs.

Open to all campaigns targeting graduate and postgraduate hires. Any coordinated marketing campaigns utilising different media, designed to solve an organisation’s graduate recruitment objectives.

Judges are looking for a clear outline of the brief, and any challenges for specific skills that may have required a special focus, e.g. female engineers. Effective and relevant creative strategy and executions, that promote the employer brand in an effective manner for the audience(s) and how well the campaign performed will be considered.

This category recognises outstanding in-house teams who have played a central role in delivering and activating employer brand initiatives that position their organisation as an employer of choice. Open to organisations of all sizes, this award celebrates the internal teams who have taken ownership of implementation—bringing strategies to life, embedding brand thinking, and ensuring consistent, authentic engagement with internal and external audiences.

Judges will be looking for clear evidence of how the in-house team has driven delivery: from internal engagement and collaboration, to the roll-out of messaging, content, campaigns, and internal activations. While branding elements or talent strategies may have been developed in partnership with agencies, this category will specifically reward how the in-house team has brought those elements to life.

In-house teams who have created or adapted their own materials and tools will score highly. We recognise that employer brands evolve, and long-term impact may still be emerging—entries can focus on a recent launch or a significant development of an existing brand.

This category rewards innovative solutions, ideas that are out of the ordinary, unexpected and different. Entries can be digital, physical, creative or a methodological approach that changes perceptions within the target industry.

Judges are looking for innovation that offers something unique in relation to the brief, with a clearly established, well-articulated link between the challenge faced and the solution developed. They want to understand the relevance of the idea to the wider brand and principles, and evidence of the work’s impact.

This category focuses on the synergy created through combinations of media channels: print, digital, social, audio, outdoor and experiential. At least two different media channels must have been utilised (social counts as one).

Judges are looking for a specific recruitment challenge that has been identified with the audience(s) defined and an explanation why the channels were selected. Consistency of messaging and branding is important, as are originality and creativity, and evidence of effectiveness.

Open to standalone motion work including film, video film, video, television, animation, vlogs, virtual reality and augmented reality. Collections of work should be entered into the Video Campaign category.

Edited versions of a single execution should be entered into this category and not into Video Campaign.

Judges are looking for a powerful use of video that makes significant impact and reflects the brief, an understanding of why the format was selected, and who the work is aimed at, and for evidence of effectiveness.

This category recognises initiatives or campaigns specifically designed to attract, engage or recruit candidates through social. We are particularly looking for the rationale behind channel selection, innovative use of the latest platform features, creative that speaks to the right talent personae, platform-specific content formats, and evidence of community growth, engagement, and reach.

Judges are looking for an explanation of the challenge, and why social platforms were selected, as well as how and why the content was created to engage with specific personae.

If appropriate, explain how employees were selected to feature on the channels and whether content was amplified by employees to increase further reach.

How did social fit into the broader employer branding strategy and what were the key measures of success?

Here we are looking for the innovative application and execution of technology. The solution should address a specific challenge an organisation is facing and deliver demonstrable impact on talent attraction and/or retention.

Judges are looking for evidence that the entry was aligned to the brief, the reason behind and the relevance of the technological solution developed. Strong alignment and integration of the technology to deliver an excellent branded experience and evidence of effectiveness are also sought.

This category focuses on video, whether short-form or long-form, that engages candidates or employees.

It is open to all collections of visual work including film, video, television, animation, vlogs, virtual reality and augmented reality. Entries should comprise two or more executions featuring unique content in one or more video formats.

Judges are looking for an outline of the recruitment challenge identified, and the relevant audiences targeted, content that makes significant impact and a structure that engages viewers. Explain why the video formats were selected, demonstrate consistency in branding/messaging, and if not, an explanation of why not, and provide evidence of effectiveness.