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THE NINETY NINE

UNITED ADWORKERS AWARD SHOW

So you've been asked to judge The 99 Show…

For more than 20 years, United Adworkers has celebrated the best of Wisconsin advertising at our annual 99 Show. We've been deeply humbled by the talented professionals who have agreed to judge our shows in the past and are honored to have you join this year's 99 Show Judging Committee.

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Below, you'll find a breakdown of how you'll be expected to judge entries as well as a timeline with estimated time commitments and key milestone dates.

Criteria & Voting

Judges will use our custom-built judging website to virtually and remotely rate each entry. There will be one round of judging. Each Judge will rate every entry's Creativity and Craft (described below) on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being low and bad and 10 being high and good.

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CREATIVITY

"Is the work innovative and unique?"

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CRAFT

"Is the work well-produced and high quality?"

Scoring & Ranking

The average of each Judge's votes on Creativity and Craft will determine a Judge's Criteria Scores. The average of each Judge’s Criteria Scores will determine an entry's Ranking Score. An entry's Ranking Score will determine its place among the top 99 highest-rated entries as well as its corresponding award. See examples below.

EXAMPLE JUDGING CHART A
RANKING SCORE
7.33
JUDGE 1
JUDGE 2
JUDGE 3
CRAFT
8
7
10
CREATIVITY
7
8
6
SCORE AVG
7
9
6
EXAMPLE JUDGING CHART B
RANKING SCORE
1.33
JUDGE 1
JUDGE 2
JUDGE 3
CRAFT
1
2
3
CREATIVITY
2
0
3
 SCORE AVG
1
1
2

The top 5 highest-rated entries will receive Gold and will be eligible for Best of Show. The next 8 highest-rated entries will receive Silver. The next 12 highest-rated entries will receive Bronze. The next 25 highest-rated entries will receive a Merit. The next 49 highest-rated entries will receive an Honorable Mention and round out the winning entries for the awards show.

 

In the event of a tie that would affect whether an entry falls in or out of a certain award tier, the Judging Committee will re-vote on the affected entries to break the tie.

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The Judging Committee will then deliberate over which of the top 5 highest-rated entries should receive Best of Show.

Time Commitment

Judges usually devote around 15 to 20 hours toward the judging process. (This includes a separate moderated online group session mentioned below.) The judging process will be broken up into two parts. The first part will require all participating Judges to rate entries on their own over the course of a week. Please note that initial decisions aren’t final. During the course of your review you can go back and change scores. The second part involves a collaborative discussion with all other participating Judges to break ties (if needed) and determine a Best of Show winner. These two parts will take place over two weeks. A more detailed schedule is outlined below.

Timeline & Dates
December 13, 2024 > January 13, 2025

Judges are expected to individually rate entries on their own time. Training will be provided.

Week of January 13, 2025

Judges are expected to join a moderated online meeting to break any ties and determine a Best of Show winner. We would also like to use some of this time to capture your thoughts about the entries and the show so they could be shared with our members.

February 27, 2025

If you happen to be in town, we invite you to celebrate the 2024 winners with us at our live, in-person show on Thursday, February 27, 2025 from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Questions? Contact Cory at cory@campeandco.com

FAQs

What Work is Eligible?

We allow work that was printed, published, broadcast or digitally displayed between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Award-winning work from previous 99 Shows or work created for United Adworkers is not eligible for entry. Submitters must be entering work on behalf of an agency, in-house team, freelancer or post-production house with a physical presence in the state of Wisconsin.

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The United Adworkers Board of Directors will serve as a Screening Committee to ensure all entries are eligible for judging and meet all required competition and categorical guidelines. Any entry deemed ineligible for the category in which it was submitted or the competition at large will be removed and the associated payment will be reimbursed to the submitter.

What Are the Entry Categories?

A project entry may be submitted to as many applicable categories. The categories for this year's show are as follows:

  1.  SELF-PROMOTION (SINGLE)
  2. SELF-PROMOTION (CAMPAIGN)
  3. ANIMATION, EDITING OR MOTION/VFX
  4. BOOK, MAGAZINE OR PERIODICAL
  5. BRANDING, LOGO OR VISUAL IDENTITY
  6. BROCHURE, DIRECT MAIL OR LEAVE-BEHIND
  7. DISPLAY AD, EMAIL OR DIGITAL NEWSLETTER
  8. ENVIRONMENTAL, INTERIOR OR SPATIAL
  9. EVENT, EXPERIENTIAL OR GUERRILLA
  10. ILLUSTRATION, LETTERING OR PAINTING
  11. INTEGRATED, 360°, OR MULTI-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN
  12. ORIGINAL MUSIC, SOUND DESIGN OR VOICEOVER
  13. OUT OF HOME, TRANSIT OR BILLBOARD
  14. PACKAGING OR POINT OF PURCHASE
  15. PHOTOGRAPHY OR RETOUCHING
  16. PRINT ADVERTISING OR POSTER
  17. PUBLIC RELATIONS OR STRATEGY
  18. RADIO OR PODCAST ADVERTISING
  19. SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
  20. VIDEO:10 OR LESS (SINGLE)
  21. VIDEO:10 OR LESS (CAMPAIGN)
  22. VIDEO:15 THRU :30 (SINGLE)
  23. VIDEO:15 THRU :30 (CAMPAIGN)
  24. VIDEO:60 OR MORE (SINGLE)
  25. VIDEO:60 OR MORE (CAMPAIGN)
  26. VIDEO CAMPAIGN MULTIPLE LENGTHS
  27. WEBSITE, APP OR MOBILE EXPERIENCE

NOTE: A project entry may be submitted to as many applicable categories.

Will Judges Get Paid for Their Time?

A judge's participation is voluntary. They are not financially compensated for their time.

Judging Timeline & Dates
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