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The VMA’s Young Marketer of the Year Award, generously sponsored by British Dairying magazine, is a prestigious award which recognises a young marketer, either in age, experience, or both, who has demonstrated marketing flair within the animal health industry. As well as prestige and platform opportunities, the Young Marketer of The Year receives:
- A £2,000 CPD bursary for their on-going marketing training and development.
- A £500 personal cash prize.
- An invitation to join the VMA Committee.
- Complementary entry to up to three of the uniquely bespoke workshops, seminars and events organised by the VMA.*
The finalists each receive a certificate and a £100 personal cash award. All finalists will be invited as guests of the VMA to the VMA Annual Awards event at the Royal Lancaster London on Friday 15th March 2019 where the winner will be announced.
The entry and judging process consists of:
- A written submission – all candidates, via the VMA website portal, by 5pm 31st January, 2019
- Case study evaluation and presentation – selected finalists at the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) in London on Tuesday 26th February, 2019. Note unfortunately we are unable to offer an alternative date, so for consideration your attendance is compulsory.
For further insight into the Young Marketer of the Year Awards process and some top tips click here to read an article from this year’s winner Anna Thomas.
So what are you waiting for? Read our entry guidelines below and start planning your submission now.
*From 16th March 2019 to 1st March 2020
Entry guidelines
Candidate Details:
- Candidates must be 34 years or younger on 15th March 2019 and/or have been in marketing for less than 5 years on 15th March 2019.
- They must have been working within the animal health industry for 12 months prior to the 31st January 2019 and must be working within the animal health industry on this date. This could be, for example but not exclusively, for a pharmaceutical company, an agency, an association, a veterinary practice or an animal health or agricultural supplier.
- The VMA actively encourages all marketers to apply, irrespective of the size of their marketing budget.
Submission details:
- The closing date for written submissions is Thursday 31st January 2019, 5pm. In fairness to all entrants, late submissions will not be considered
- There is no entry fee and entry is via written submission as file attachments to the entry form below. The written submission should be 1500 words maximum, plus any supporting visuals which total not more than 2 sides of A4
- In addition to the 1500 word piece the submission must include a current CV.
- All submissions should be written by the candidate. The purpose of the submission is to clearly demonstrate how the marketer has added value.
- The candidate must declare their input to their marketing activity, vs that of the wider team (especially in international work).
- The submission should be supported by a brief statement (500 words maximum) from a line manager to confirm that the information presented is a true and accurate reflection of the candidate.
- All submissions will remain confidential.
- All finalists will need to attend the judging day in London on Tuesday 26th February, 2019 to discuss their nomination in more detail and complete the short case study. There will be no alternative offered so entrants are advised to put this date in their diary in anticipation of attendance
Evaluation details:
All submissions will be evaluated against the following criteria in order to shortlist a maximum of three candidates.
- Professionalism & presentation of materials submitted
- Creative merit, innovation & uniqueness (original ideas, fresh thinking, insight)
- Evidence of personal (rather than team or agency) effort & impact
- Breadth and depth of marketing skills from across the marketing mix e.g. advertising, PR, digital, sales, exhibitions etc
- Judicious selection of marketing tools and techniques for effective use of budget (regardless of the size of the available budget)
- Measure of effectiveness (sales uptake/market share/analytics) e.g. sales of product x increased from 5% to 25% over the 12 month period etc
- Marketing planning – overall approach
- Evidence of marketing good practice
- Campaign analysis and review (feedback/monitoring /corrective action)
- Strength of recommendation by senior manager