Who qualifies to enter?

Entry is open to domestic and international organizations, sponsors, governing bodies, charities, clubs, franchises, regions, provinces and any other relevant business or association that work in rugby. Agencies, consultancies and appropriate third parties may enter on behalf of third parties.

Deadline

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Wednesday 30th September 2009. Entries after this time cannot be considered. Proof of postage will not be taken as proof of receipt. No items or entries will be returned unless by prior arrangement with the organizers.

Eligibility

Nominations must be for work completed between 1st September 2008 and 1st September 2009. Companies which are sponsoring Rugby Business Award categories are ineligible for that award.

Entry costs

The fee per entry is £150 / US$225 which includes all local taxes. Any questions regarding this should be directed to us on 020 7934 9031.

Judges

Each entry will be assessed by a selected panel of judges. Any judge who has been directly involved with a nomination will be asked to abstain from voting and will not be allowed to lobby the judging panel. The winners will be determined based on a majority decision of the judging panel. In the case of a draw the Chair’s vote will decide the outcome. The decisions of the judges are independent and final and no correspondence will be entered into the results.

Judging times and awards ceremony

Judging will take place in October 2009 and a shortlist will be published no later than the end of October 2009. The winners will be announced and the awards will be presented at The Rugby Business Awards Gala Dinner at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, London on Tuesday 24th November 2009.

Judging process

The completed entry forms and your written submissions plus supporting material will be used by the judges to make an assessment of your entries. All the entries received will be assessed based on evidence of excellence contributing to the overall success of an activity and according to its objectives and budget. Credit will be given to effective campaigns and creative ideas rather than big budgets. The judges have the right to move entries between categories if they believe they have been entered in the wrong category.

Sensitive information and confidentiality

All information will be treated in the strictest confidence within the judging process, however some information will be published as part of the awards process. Where this is the case, this is clearly indicated on the entry form. Submission of the entry form will be taken as compliance with this activity and it is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that its submission excludes anything in this section that the organizers may publish or promote.

Entry withdrawal

No fees are refundable but any entry may be withdrawn before 30th September 2009 without penalty. Thereafter, an additional withdrawal fee of US$50 will be charged to cover the cost of extra administration and revisions to the judging packs.

Late entries

A penalty for an entry that is received after the official closing date, without prior approval will be issued. The organizers reserve the right to charge US$75 in each case, irrespective of whether the entry is from a sponsor, governing body, charity, club, franchise, region, province or appropriate agencies, consultancies and third parties.

Entering multiple categories

It is possible to enter multiple categories and the same project may be entered into more than one category.

Please pay special attention to the following instructions below. Failure to comply with these requests will put entries at a disadvantage.

Each entry should include:

Twelve copies of the Rugby Business Awards entry form fully completed
Please note: photocopied entry forms are acceptable however if you wish to reproduce this form the same layout must be adhered to

Each entry should include 12 copies of each submission; one master set which must include an entry form, a summary of all support information and all relevant support materials, including DVD’s. This must be clearly marked as the master set. The other 11 copies will be judges sets and must include entry forms and support literature only.

Answers to the questions specific to the category you are entering, should be clear and legible, must not exceed the word count stated and should be divided into sections headed by the questions asked in the relevant category description. If submitting any supplementary or supporting information, please ensure that the summary of this information is detailed at the space provided on the entry form.

Additional relevant and supporting material
e.g. copies of campaign materials, press cuttings, research, evaluation etc

In the interests of the environment, please submit only one copy of any sizeable document in the master set.
Any in depth research or analysis must include an executive summary of key conclusions that the document supports. Any such summaries must be no longer than one page and a copy of which must be included in each of the 11 judges sets.

Supplementary information

Judging will be based on exceptional campaigns, strategies backed up by concrete evidence of success. Each entry must indicate clearly to the judges the nature and degree of difficulty of the challenge faced. Strategies and campaigns will be judged on outcomes and achievements rather than the strength of the plan or campaigning materials. Successful entries will be specific and adhere to the stated word guidelines.

Checklist

• Completed entry forms x 1 master copy and 11 other copies
• Entry fee of £150 / US$225 per entry
• Support information – please list all (NB all film footage to be submitted in DVD format which must be compatible with British Standard equipment)