April 2, 2025
New York, New York
The Planning & Buying Awards will open for entries October 14.

We look forward to seeing your best work!




The Planning & Buying Awards recognize the creativity involved in the strategy, planning and buying of media. They express our belief that the process of buying, planning and strategy is every bit as creative as depicting storyboards for a print or TV ad campaign.



Creative Media Awards Trophy

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Planning & Buying Awards

Jury

We're working on finding the best jury for these awards. If you think you'd be a good fit, please contact Nicole Fadner (nicole@mediapost.com).

FAQ

Q. What are the key dates to remember?


Entry Eligibility Dates: November 1, 2023- December 31, 2024
Early Entry Fee Discount Deadline: December 20, 2024 
Entry Deadline: February 14, 2025

Finalists Notified/Published : mid March, 2025

Q. What are the eligibility requirements?

To qualify for the awards submission, all work must have been presented to the public in a verifiable location or medium during the eligibility period, we do not accept "spec" work.

Q. What are the eligibility dates?

Media campaigns must have run during calendar year 2024.

Q. What is the deadline?

The Early Discount Deadline is December 20, 2024.
All entries must be received by 10:00PM EST on February 14, 2025.

Q. What are the Entry Fees:

Early Discount entry fee is $395 per entry. This offer expires on December 20, 2024.

Regular entry fee is $495 per entry.

When submitting the same entry into multiple categories, the above fee will be multiplied by the number of categories selected. Entries will not be judged if they are not accompanied by full payment or if they are incomplete in any way.

Q. What are the Payment Options:

All entry fees are due at the end of the submission process via our online entry system. The only accepted methods of payment are Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card. We can not issue invoices or accept purchase orders, checks, and bank transfers.

Q. How do I enter?

Entrants can submit ads, promotions, campaigns and websites for as many categories as they like, and/or submit multiple entries for each category. Submissions should reflect work that was predominantly done by the submitting agency or other company, and the role of any collaborating creative and media agencies, the client, and any other entities should be referenced in the separate "Affiliated Agencies" field provided on the entry form. PLEASE PROOF campaign name and those you list as part of the team as this information will be published if you become a finalist.

Each entry also requires a "Brief" which must contain the objectives of the individual ads, campaigns and websites as well as any anecdotes, supporting facts or figures that illustrate its creativity and accomplishment. Briefs should be no more than 300 words in length.

All other supporting materials must be submitted electronically:

Provide a single URL link per entry. This should link to a page containing all creative materials, easily viewable by our Judges. Clear and concise presentation of all relevant creative assets at a single web URL will be important to proper consideration and the jury convenience. The entry URL must remain accessible until the day of the award ceremony.

Q. What required fields are on the online Entry Form?

The online entry form consists of 4 pages:

(1) Entrant's contact info
(2) Entry details:
     Category (-ies) (each entry can be submitted into either one or multiple categories)
     Agency (that will receive the award if won)
     Client/Brand/Advertiser
     Campaign Title
     URL containing the creative materials for the judges
     Individual Credits (ECDs, Developers, Designers, etc.)
     Any 3rd party Affiliated Agencies that were involved in the work
     300-word Brief

NOTE: Each time you revisit an entry to make any edits, the previously uploaded versions of your media files will be deleted. If you edit and entry, you MUST upload your files again on this 3rd page of the entry form.
(4) Review submitted entries and Checkout

Q. What are the Judging Criteria?

By the time a P&BA entry has reached the winner’s circle, it has survived two rounds of judging. The combined experience of the judges enables the Planning & Buying Awards to honor the industry’s most effective work.

Round One judging consists of an internal editorial team reviewing and judging the briefs and creative materials. Our editors handpick three finalists per category and then send the results to the jury for the Final Round.

The Final Round of judging is comprised of a panel of industry experts and our editors who review the briefs and creative materials of all the finalists. Together they will decide which brief in each category was the most effective in conveying the "IDEA" and how the idea drove the campaign.

Q. Will we be informed if we are finalists?

Finalists will be announced mid March 2024.

Q. What is your Publishing Policy?

Creative materials and briefs become property of MediaPost Communications. MediaPost is granted the right to publish the winning briefs and creative materials on the Planning & Buying Awards Web site and within MediaPost’s online and print publications.

Q. When and where will the awards show be held?

Winners will be announced on April 2 in New York City.

Contact Us

Entries/Submissions/Trophy Orders

Please contact Nicole Fadner, Director of Communications, at nicole@mediapost.com.

Awards Ceremony Tickets / Tables

Please contact Nicole Fadner, Director of Communications, at nicole@mediapost.com.

Sponsorships

For questions regarding sponsorship of this event please contact Seth Oilman, SVP, Chief Revenue Officer at seth@mediapost.com.

Press

For press inquiries, please contact Nicole Fadner, Director of Communications, at nicole@mediapost.com.