UK Sponsorship Awards 2017 Announces Entry Deadlines As Well As Exciting New Categories

The organisers of the UK Sponsorship Awards (UKSA) are delighted to announce that the 2017 edition of the event will include several new categories covering a range of different disciplines within the field of sponsorship. In addition, the “Targeting Women Through Sport” category will be extended to cover all sponsorships irrespective of their sector.

Commenting on the additions, UKSA organiser Rosemary Sarginson says: “Every year, we aim to make the UK Sponsorship Awards reflect the current trends in the industry as closely as possible. To a large extent, this is achieved through the entries we get to existing popular categories. But where we feel there is a gap in our programme we take real delight in introducing new opportunities to showcase great work.”

In the Olympics arena, there will be two Awards. The first will be for Best Use of Sponsorship at Rio 2016, echoing a similar Award that was created after London 2012. This is open to sponsors involved with both the Olympics and Paralympics.

The second will be for Sponsors that made an inspiring contribution to TEAM GB’s success in Rio. “Many of us have marvelled at Team GB’s record-breaking performance this summer at both the Olympics and Paralympics. Our athletes have brought home scores of medals in disciplines ranging from track cycling to trampoline,” says Sarginson. “So the purpose of this category is to celebrate the brands that played a part in that success. We don’t want this category to be limited only to the big sponsors, so it will be free to enter. This way, there is no barrier to smaller brands that helped one of our athletes turn a personal best into a once-in-a-lifetime Olympic achievement.”

Other new categories this year include Best Use of Branded Content and Best Film Sponsorship: “The expansion of our media section has been a big success in recent years, reflecting the growing importance of this piece of the business,” says Sarginson, “So it felt like time for a revamp. As a result of this extension, there will now be five media-related categories.”

Best Use of Naming Rights is also new for UKSA 2017, says Sarginson. “We’ve seen some fantastic examples of naming rights sponsorships across our categories in recent years. Now felt like the right time to put them up against each other to provide an industry blueprint for how to do it right.”

Other new categories include Best eSports Sponsorship and Harnessing The Power Of The Crowd – The Most Effective Use OfMass Participation Sponsorship: “E-Sports is one of the fastest-growing forms of leisure pursuit,” says Sarginson, “while Mass Participation Sponsorship is a dynamic and innovative sector of our business. Rewarding these areas shows our commitment to the full range of industry activities.”

The UKSA organisers are committed to supporting Diversity in the sponsorship industry – which is why this year will see the extension of the Targeting Women category and introduction of a new Diversity & Inclusion category. “It is our hope and intention that the Diversity & Inclusion category should reward brands that have made a genuine commitment to inclusiveness in areas such as LGBT, BAME and disability,” says Sarginson.

Finally, there will also be a brand new Rights Holder Award, details of which will be published in the next week or two.

In addition to the new categories, all of the usual categories will be up for grabs (sports, arts, PR etc). Details on deadlines and how to enter can be found here. This year, the Early Bird deadline is December 16th, 2016. The Final Deadline is January 16th, 2017. Shortlists are announced on February 16th 2017 and the event itself is on March 28th, 2017 and will take place at the prestigious London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.