Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.
AMCP’s membership consists of the several thousand people and organizations who have entered the MarCom Awards, Hermes Creative Awards, AVA Digital Awards, dotComm Awards, and the all-new Viddy Awards (formerly the Videographer Awards). Each entrant’s fee goes toward the administration and judging of the awards programs.
The foundation for AMCP began in 1995 as a means to honor outstanding achievement and service to the communication profession. It was founded by a group of communication professionals who were involved in competitions for several of the national and international trade organizations. The goal of the group was to provide an inexpensive, independent competition on an international level that would be fair, respected and open to everyone.
As part of its mission, the Association fosters and supports the efforts of marketing and communication professionals who contribute their unique talents to public service and charitable organizations. Each year, the efforts of generous marketing and communication professionals are acknowledged through grants and special recognition.
AMCP sponsored competitions have grown to perhaps the largest of their kind in the world. A look at the winners shows a range in size from individual communicators to media conglomerates and Fortune 50 companies. The competition is so well respected in the industry that national public relations organizations, local ad clubs, and local business communicator chapters are entrants.
If you have entered an AMCP competition, you are a member of the organization. Please feel free to download and use our AMCP graphic.
Since 1995, AMCP judges have earned a reputation for accuracy, fairness and credibility. A look at the list of winners is a who’s who of the industry. AMCP competitions are where professional organizations that run their own competitions enter their work.
In an effort to ensure fairness, consistency and timeliness, AMCP does not send out entries to various judges. All of the judging is done in AMCP judging facilities in Dallas, Texas and Washington D.C. It takes about eight weeks of judging, eight hours a day to review all of the work that is submitted in each competition. AMCP recognizes that the time between submission and notification for most competitions is too long, so every effort is made to have the results ready within 45 days of the initial deadline.
Judges are senior-level, experienced professionals. They are free-lancers or own their own businesses. They are selected based on experience and availability. Judges can change from one day to the next, but the judging coordinator is there at every session.
Since there is a tremendous variance of resources from entrant-to-entrant, and piece-to-piece, perceived budget is taken into consideration in the judging. Based on their work experiences, judges have an expectation for each individual entry. A student-produced ad is not held to the same expectation as a piece produced by a Madison Avenue agency for a Fortune 50 company.
There is no preset number of winners in a category. Entries are judged at random and not directly compared to other entries in their category. The objective of the judging is to recognize and reward “creative” achievement. It is a subjective process based on learned perceptions of creativity as opposed to measured results.
The judging is designed to evaluate work solely on its own merit. That is why we do not publicize specific criteria and then let entrants spend a great deal of time and effort explaining how their project met that criteria. In reality, any work that any communicator produces will provide the intended audience with the same basic measurement used by the judges. What was the first impression? Was the work inventive? Artistic? Resourceful? To the point? Eye-catching? Colorful? Is there a theme? Is the company differentiated from others? Obviously, a black and white low budget annual report produced for a non-profit will not be judged in the same manner as an expensive annual report produced for a Fortune 50 company. Given its inherent limitations, the non-profit may have been done extremely well and despite the apparent glitter, the high dollar annual report may not have met the expectations of the judges.
Using a consensus method, judges verbalize their criticisms, compliments etc. and then agree on a score. Entries receiving scores between 90-100 points are top level winners. Entries with 80-89 points are second level winners. Entries scoring from 70-79 receive honorable mention designation.
It is a pleasure to write with thanks for the gift on behalf of Vital & Ryze Advertising to pediatric research and patient care at CHaD, The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth. We appreciate your kindness and your generosity, and we value you as a partner in our critical work to care for our young patients.
Children’s Hospital At DartmouthIt came as no surprise to us that Elizabeth Christian & Associates has won the acclaim and recognition of your organization! Their work in the community and on behalf of the LBJ Foundation has earned wide respect and admiration. It was an honor to have been chosen as the recipient of the stipend that came as part of your award.
LBJ FoundationOn behalf of the many campers who participate in Parkland’s Burn Camp, I-Thonka-Chi, I would like to thank you for your generous gift of $500. Camp I-Thonka-Chi is a magical place and with the support from you and Gillian Brewer, you are helping to provide our patients an opportunity and a place to grow and flourish as productive members of society, despite their injuries.
Parkland FoundationThe men and women of our military make sacrifices every day to keep America safe and together we can make sure they are not forgotten. Through the kindness and generosity of supporters such as you, we are able to pursue our mission of building specially-adapted homes for our soldiers who become disabled while serving our country.
Homes For Our TroopsWe at CARDV would like to acknowledge AMCP’s kind and generous donation made in recognition of John Harris of Horsepower Productions. We are grateful that John donates his award-winning videography talents to us and other nonprofits in our community.
Center Against Rape And Domestic ViolenceWe work each day in the most impoverished community in the state of Georgia seeking to bring investment and empowerment to local residents. In this effort, the marketing and communication assistance from Design Coup have been indispensable and invaluable to the growth and effectiveness of the City of Refuge. Thank you for recognizing their excellent work and for your commitment to honor their work with financial giving. You have made a difference in the lives of those in great need
City Of Refuge, Inc.Please know that you have given a very special gift to these children in need – a consistent and caring adult presence in their lives. As Judge Katherine Lucero of the Santa Clara County Superior Court has said of our work, ‘The Advocate is that important one-on-one human connection for the child and maybe the only person completely committed to their well-being at this time in their life.
Child Advocates Of Silicon Valley, Milpitas, CAThanks so much for the generous gift you sent to us through Force5Media. Through your recognition we are able to give our guests the necessary tools to continue breaking the cycle of homelessness-one miracle at a time. You sure are doing great things and promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals!
Center For The HomelessThe award winning piece that aired on WABC News about our “Camp Helping Hands” was instrumental in spreading the word about our program that helps children with cerebral palsy. It is contributions such as yours and the marketing assistance from Winning Strategies that help keep our organization up and running.
Intensive Therapeutics, Inc., Wayne, NJThe goal of AMCP is to provide an inexpensive, independent competition on an international level that is fair, respected and open to everyone.
AMCP’s membership consists of the several thousand people and organizations who have entered the MarCom Awards, Hermes Creative Awards, dotCOMM Awards, Viddy Awards and AVA Digital Awards. Each entrant’s fee goes toward the administration and judging of the awards programs.
As part of its mission, AMCP fosters and supports the efforts of marketing and communication professionals who give back to their communities. Creative professionals donating their talent, personal goodwill and philanthropy are honored through the AMCP pro bono recognition program. Over the past few years, AMCP has waived entry fees for over 2,000 pro bono projects. AMCP has also donated over $280,000 to industry and charitable causes.