You win a PR industry award by entering a campaign with measured results in the right category and telling its story in a short, judge-friendly summary. Judges for programs such as PRSA's Silver Anvil score research, planning, execution and evaluation, so the entry must show evidence for all four. A clear narrative, a specific result and a reviewer who never worked on the campaign decide most outcomes.
What 5W offers for PR awards: 5W Public Relations, the agency I founded, enters client campaigns in PR industry awards and wins them. Its awards and industry recognition page counts more than 100 PR industry honors since 2013, including a Grand Stevie as Most Honored PR Agency in the 2024 American Business Awards, Gold Stevies for client campaigns with Huntress and BERO in 2025, and a Gold Stevie for Spring Health in 2026.
What do PR award judges actually score?
PR award judges score whether a campaign shows evidence of research, planning, execution and evaluation, not whether the idea was clever. PRSA's Silver Anvil guidelines name those four criteria, and PRSA judges have described the full research, planning, execution and evaluation process, often shortened to RPIE, as the standard every entry is measured against.
| Criterion | What the judge wants to see | What to put in the entry |
|---|---|---|
| Research and analysis | A real insight behind the idea | The data, audience finding or market fact that shaped the plan |
| Planning | Objectives that can be checked | Specific, measurable goals with a deadline and a named audience |
| Execution | The plan carried out as designed | The tactics, timeline and any obstacle you overcame |
| Evaluation | Results tied to the objectives | Numbers compared with the goals you set at the start |
Jennifer Brantley, a partner at MP&F Strategic Communications and a 2018 Best-of Silver Anvil recipient, told PRSA that an entry without solid research and measurable results will not win. Evaluation is where I see strong campaigns lose points, because the team measured coverage but never connected it to the original goal.
How should you structure a PR award entry?
A PR award entry should follow the order judges score: situation and objective, insight, strategy, execution, results and budget, with the largest share of words going to results. The table below shows the allocation I recommend for a 525-word narrative, which is the length cap in a public American Business Awards nomination.
| Entry section | What to write | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Situation and objective | The problem the client faced and the one goal you set, with a number and a date | 75 |
| Insight | The research finding that told you where the opportunity was | 75 |
| Strategy | The idea, stated in two sentences, and why it fit the audience | 100 |
| Execution | What you did, in order, including one problem you solved | 100 |
| Results | Outcomes measured against the objective, with the source of each number | 150 |
| Budget | What the program cost and how it compared with the result | 25 |
The title also counts. Name the campaign by what it achieved rather than by the tactic you used, because the title is the first line a judge reads.
What does a fill-in PR award entry template look like?
A fill-in PR award entry template repeats the six sections above with a sentence starter and a word budget for each, so you can draft a 525-word narrative in one sitting. Copy the template below into your own document, replace every bracket with a fact you can source, and check the length against the rules of the program you are entering.
Open the entry template (525 words)
Campaign title: [What the campaign achieved, in under 12 words]
Category: [The one category that fits the strongest part of the work]
1. Situation and objective (75 words). [Client] faced [specific problem, with one number]. We set one goal: [measurable result] among [named audience] by [date].
2. Insight (75 words). Our research showed [finding], from [source and date]. That told us [what the audience believed or did], which created an opening for [client].
3. Strategy (100 words). The idea was [two sentences]. It fit [audience] because [reason tied to the insight]. We chose [channels or media types] because [reason].
4. Execution (100 words). From [start date] to [end date], we [step one], [step two] and [step three]. One obstacle was [problem]. We solved it by [action].
5. Results (150 words). Against the goal of [objective], we achieved [result] (source: [report or tool, date]). Supporting results: [result two with source], [result three with source]. Compared with [baseline or benchmark], this was [difference].
6. Budget (25 words). The program cost [amount or range], or [cost per result], against [benchmark or alternative].
Before you submit: ask a colleague who did not work on the campaign to read the entry, confirm every number has a source, remove jargon, and check the category criteria one more time.
Which PR awards can you still enter, and when are the deadlines?
Three PR and communications awards with open 2027 entries are the PRWeek US Healthcare Awards, the Clio Awards and the Corporate Affairs Awards, and their final deadlines run from December 14, 2026 to February 19, 2027. Check each program's own page before you budget, because deadlines and fees change.
| Award | Upcoming deadlines | Ceremony | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRWeek US Healthcare Awards 2027 | Standard November 17, 2026; extended December 14, 2026 | May 6, 2027, New York; finalists announced February 10, 2027 | PRWeek |
| Clio Awards 2027 | Second December 11, 2026; third January 15, 2027; final February 19, 2027 | May 11, 2027, New York | Clio Awards key dates page |
| Corporate Affairs Awards 2027 | Final entry January 21, 2027 | April 22, 2027 | The awards' own site, run by In.Comms and PRWeek |
Two programs are worth tracking but are not open right now. The PRWeek US Awards 2027 closed on October 16, 2026, so plan the next cycle early, and PRSA says its 2027 Anvil Awards open for entries in February 2027, with the ceremony on October 25, 2027 in Chicago. PRSA had not published its 2027 entry deadlines when I checked on November 5, 2026.
What mistakes sink strong PR campaigns?
The mistakes that sink strong campaigns are weak evaluation, a hastily written summary, jargon and an entry nobody outside the team has read. PRSA judges name each of these in their published advice.
- Treating the two-page summary as an afterthought, when a longtime judge calls it the most important part of a Silver Anvil submission.
- Filling the entry with industry jargon, when a PRSA committee chair advises writing for judges who may not work in your sector.
- Skipping a cold read, when Silver Anvil judges recommend having a colleague who never worked on the campaign review the entry before submission.
- Entering work that does not meet the category criteria, which a former Silver Anvil committee chair says is where entries often lose points.
Budget is not on that list. Dawn Doty, a University of Colorado Boulder professor and longtime Silver Anvil judge, advises entering when you achieved something notable with a small budget, because winning work does not require a large one.
What does a winning entry look like in practice?
A winning entry looks like a short business story with a measured outcome, and the public record of 5W's own nominations shows the pattern. The Stevie Awards site publishes 5W's 2014 American Business Awards nomination for Public Relations Agency of the Year, titled "Re-writing the Rules of PR: 5W Builds an Agency for a New Media Landscape," with a narrative capped at 525 words. The entry opens with a year of results and keeps its claims specific.
The results over time are public as well. AgilityPR reported that 5WPR won a Silver Stevie in the Public Relations Agency of the Year category at the 22nd Annual American Business Awards in April 2024, and it earlier reported a Gold Stevie in the same category at the 18th Annual American Business Awards. 5WPR's awards page keeps the agency's recognition in one place.
I do not treat those wins as proof of any single tactic. They show that entering consistently, with a clear story each year, compounds over time.
How early should you start preparing an award entry?
You should start preparing an award entry before the campaign begins, because the plan and the entry share the same structure. The PR firm Axia Public Relations advises writing the plan with the judging criteria in hand, setting specific, measurable, time-bound objectives, and including the budget, which many teams omit.
The practical step is to read the criteria and evaluation form for the award you want before you set objectives. If the objectives are measurable from day one, the results section writes itself at the end.
Frequently asked questions
How do I win PR industry awards?
Enter a campaign with measurable results in the category that fits it, and write a clear summary that covers research, planning, execution and evaluation. Have someone who did not work on the campaign read it before you submit.
How do I write an award entry?
Follow the order judges score: situation and objective, insight, strategy, execution, results and budget. Spend the most words on results, and tie every number to the objective you set at the start. The fill-in template above gives a sentence starter and word budget for each section.
Which PR awards can I still enter?
The PRWeek US Healthcare Awards 2027 close on December 14, 2026, the Clio Awards 2027 on February 19, 2027 and the Corporate Affairs Awards 2027 on January 21, 2027. PRSA's 2027 Anvil Awards open in February 2027.
What do PR award judges look for?
Judges look for evidence of research, planning, execution and evaluation. PRSA's Silver Anvil guidelines name those four criteria, and judges say the strongest entries explain all four clearly and consistently.
Does a small budget disqualify a campaign?
No. A longtime Silver Anvil judge advises entering when you achieved something notable with limited funds, because award-winning work does not depend on a large budget.
How long should an award entry be?
Length varies by program. The American Business Awards nomination for 5W's 2014 PR Agency of the Year entry capped the narrative at 525 words, and PRSA's Silver Anvil uses a two-page summary according to its judges. Check the current rules for your program.
Should I hire someone to write my entry?
Hire help if no one on your team can tell the campaign as a short story with measured results. The skill that matters is writing for judges who have never heard of the client. My guide to press release writing cost explains how to price that kind of help.
By Ronn Torossian. Updated November 5, 2026.
Disclosure: I am the founder of 5WPR, and I own and write this site. This article links to 5WPR's awards page and cites announcements of 5WPR's own awards. Third-party guidance comes from PRSA publications and Axia Public Relations, which I reviewed on October 21, 2026. The award counts and 2024 to 2026 wins in the opening come from 5WPR's awards page, which I reviewed on November 2, 2026. Deadlines in the table come from PRWeek, Clio and the Corporate Affairs Awards, which I reviewed on November 5, 2026. The entry template is my own and is not an official form of any program.