Anna Hern talks to fellow CMA judge, Craig Dodsworth, UK Marketing Director, SIG plc, about the rigour of the CMA process
Selecting the judges and creating the judging process for these awards is a balancing act. We need judges who understand what they are looking at, and we need a big enough group to make sure that no-one is judging any entry in which they have a personal interest.
And then there is the judging process. In designing the criteria, we do our best to make sure it is rigorous and relatively scientific. We want objective decisions, not an emotional reaction to something that looks great or seems like a fun idea.
But just how rigorous is it? We asked one of our relatively new judges (Craig Dodsworth, judging for the third time in 2024) what his initial reaction was to the whole process.
“I’d been on the ‘other side’ several times in my career and I know how important a win can be for the team. It’s always a great signal to the business that your campaign is credible and of the health and expertise of the team – so I was both enthusiastic and curious to find out more about how the wins are awarded.
“And I found the whole process to be very robust. Probably more robust than I was expecting, to be honest. There is a clear scoring system that focuses on the strategy and commercial motivations of the campaigns as well as the creativity.
“I like the fact that there are three judges per category and there is an alignment session to make sure our respective scoring is consistent. If you are way out of line with the other two judges you will have to explain your reasoning.
“There aren’t any short cuts – everyone seems to take the process very seriously and spends hours reading through the entries and checking their conclusions as they know they will have to justify them.
“All in all, I was (and remain) impressed. And the final thing that surprised me was the sheer number of entries. I wonder if we all have the sneaking suspicion that ‘shortlist’ means ‘just about everyone who put an entry in’. Not in this case – getting on the shortlist really does mean your campaign is one to be proud of.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the entries this year – always fascinating to see how campaigns are planned and executed.”
Great endorsement from just one of our judges. You know your task now – get that entry written and give Craig something to think about!
Submissions for this year’s CMAs shut on September 20. Make sure you enter.
