The closing date for entry to the Irish Sport Industry Awards is only a week away and this morning we look at two of the six categories that are open for public nomination, those of the Best Sports Sponsorship and the Best Use of a Communications Platform.
Best Sports Sponsorship
To be entered by an organisation that has sport at the heart of its content, and which utilises commercial partnerships and activations, where relevant to drive forward the reach and achieve business objectives.
This award in different guises has been won in the past by Softco for its partnership with Irish Hockey, Lidl for its partnership with Ladies Football, and Allianz’s support of Paralympics Ireland.
There are a host of partnerships that we have covered over the course of the past you that would be worthy winners of the event, and the criteria that this year’s judges will be looking to see matched will include:
- Evidence that it has created and maximised engagement with its own audience
- Differentiation from their competitors
- Demonstration of measurable impact for the organisation, partners, and its consumers
Best Use of a Communications Platform
This award is to recognise innovative and clever use of communications platforms to stand out from the digital crowd.
It has been won in the past by AIG and Dublin GAA and by AIB and the GAA for the Club and County Campaign.
The criteria here are that there is:
- Evidence that it has created its own audience, forming a digital community of sports fans in the process
- Differentiation from their competitors
- Demonstrable measurable impact for the organisation, partners, and its consumers
- A Digital community that is present or managed in Ireland or was created in Ireland.
The other categories for which there is an open nomination process are the Best National Governing Body and Local Sports Partnership of the Year, and for Initiatives to promote Women in Sport and Inclusivity.
Awards for the best Established and New Sports Business of the Year; for Outstanding Achievement and the Jimmy Magee Award for Sports Journalist of the Year will also be chosen by a panel of judges drawn from the leadership of the industry.
These include Jill Downey of Core Sponsorship, Kevin Moore of Legacy Communications; Warren Healy of Clubforce; Niamh Daffy of Cara, Ian Mallon of the Irish Examiner; Nora Stapleton of Sport Ireland; Maeve Buckley of Leading Sport and Shane McArdle of the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Sports Partnership. The Judging Panel will be Chaired BY Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business.
Entry for the Awards closes on April 25th and the Awards will be presented at a special evening event on Tuesday, May 17th.
