The awards are open to everyone, everywhere. The Drum Awards is a global competition for advertisers and their agencies, partners and suppliers. If you’ve worked on a campaign or been involved in producing work across any of our categories, these awards are for you.

Early- bird
£476 +VAT(if applicable)

Standard 
£595 +VAT(if applicable)

Extended Deadline
£714 +VAT(if applicable)

Early-bird deadline: Wednesday,18 June, 2025
Official deadline: Thursday, 4 September, 2025
Extended deadline: Thursday,18 September, 2025

We announce the nominees via our website and social channels (make sure to follow us), the winners will later be revealed during our live awards show. You will also receive an email notifying you of the results.

Nominations announced:  Wednesday, 8 October - 15 October - 3.00pm BST

Wednesday, 8 October

• Agency Business
• Experiential
• Design
• PR

Friday, 10 October

• Social Purpose
• Media
• Social

Wednesday, 15 October

• Digital Experience
• Content 
• B2B
• Advertising
  
  

Winners announced: November 17-20, 2025

The results will be revealed during The Drum Awards Festival week, taking place from 17-20 November. All 11 shows will be hosted at The Drum’s very own venue, The Drum Labs, Shoreditch.

The week will feature a mix of afternoon and evening shows, where we’ll walk through the nominations in each category and announce the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners. Gold and Silver winners will receive their Drum trophies on stage.

Our festival schedule is available here. Please note, the times are subject to change. The final schedule will be confirmed following the nominations announcements but be sure to save the date now!

Price £124+Vat per ticket 
Enjoy... 
A glass of bubbles on arrival – Kick off the celebrations in style
Two complimentary drinks – Choose from beer, wine, or soft drinks
Festival-style Street food – Think crowd-pleasing, easy-to-enjoy dishes with something for everyone. Not a sit down dinner, but buffet style. 
Red carpet photo moment – Strike a pose and capture the glamour
Collect your trophy on stage – If you win Gold or Silver, take the spotlight and walk away with your award in hand
Chance to be featured in a winners’ video – Capture the moment (subject to editorial discretion)

Dress Code: Creative Casual.
It’s a night out, but no need to get too dressed up. Think relaxed, stylish, and comfortable – whatever makes you feel good. Trainers welcome, sequins optional. Just bring the good vibes!

Entries must have been live at some point between the following dates: August 2024 - September 2025. Entries do not have to be created within this timescale.

All entries submitted must be legal. Any entries containing offensive material will be disqualified. Any entry that has a complaint upheld against it by the Advertising Standards Authority will be disqualified.

The judges reserve the right to re-allocate entries that in their view are entered in an incorrect sub-category. The judges also reserve the right to remove sub-categories where entries do not meet the standard for nomination.

These entries will not be refunded as they will have been judged accordingly.

Our full terms and conditions can be found here

We understand that AI tools can play a helpful role in the creative and writing process. However, to ensure fairness, transparency, and the celebration of true creativity/strategy, the following guidelines apply to the use of AI in The Drum Awards submissions:

Acceptable Use
- You may use AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, image enhancers, etc.) to support the development of your entry, such as structuring, checking grammar, or refining language.
- AI can be used as part of the creative process, where relevant, as long as its role is clearly acknowledged.

What’s Expected
- All entries must be factually accurate, honest, and reflect real work. AI-generated text or visuals should be reviewed, verified, and edited to ensure they truthfully represent your campaign or project.
- If AI tools (e.g. for ideation, copywriting, image creation, automation, or results reporting) have been used in the submitted work, this must be clearly disclosed in the entry.
- Transparency around the use of AI will not disadvantage your submission, but misleading or misrepresenting AI-generated content as entirely human-made may.
- Entrants must specify the nature and extent of AI involvement and identify any tools used. AI-generated content must comply with intellectual property laws and not reproduce biased, discriminatory, or offensive material.
- AI-assisted work must retain human editorial oversight; a human must remain ultimately accountable for creative decisions.

Not Allowed- Do not submit work that is entirely AI-generated and pass it off as original human creative work in categories that are intended to showcase human creativity.
- Do not use AI to generate false, exaggerated or fictitious results, claims, or case study content.

We encourage all entrants to read over and refine anything written with AI tools to ensure the final submission is accurate, honest and aligned with the spirit of the awards. Any failure to comply could result in your entry being disqualified from the competition

To find out exactly how to enter, you can follow this handy guide.

Absolutely! By saving your entries as you go, you can make edits up until the official entry deadline via your entry dashboard.

You can pay via credit/debit/AMEX card on our website once your entries are complete.

Payments must be received by the entry deadline to qualify for judging.

Yes, you will be able to edit your entries up until the official deadline.

To edit your entries log on to your Dashboard > 'Awards' > 'Nominations' and edit.

Entries are evaluated by the jury across three core criteria: Planning, Execution, and Results. Each sub-category has a tailored weighting depending on its focus:

- Equal weighting: Balanced emphasis on all three areas
- Creative-led: Greater focus on creative excellence
- Strategy-led: Prioritises strategic direction and effectiveness
- Agency Business: Judged primarily on strategic decisions driving agency performance

Please refer to individual sub-category descriptions for detailed guidance.

After pre-judging, the jury meets to determine the final awards. Their decisions are final and may include moving entries into more appropriate categories if necessary. All work is judged objectively, regardless of budget or scale.

Judging is fair and flexible. Judges are not required to award a Gold, Silver, or Bronze in every category — only where work meets the standard. This means some categories may have multiple winners at one level, or none at all, depending on the quality of the entries.

After the final deadline, the judging panel will sign an NDA before they are given access to read your submission and view your images, videos, and links.

By entering these awards, you give the organizers the right to publish/exhibit screen grabs and/or submitted reports. If you wish to upload a modified/less commercially sensitive version for publishing purposes, please do so on the entry upload form under the "Entry report for publication" section.

Please note that we cannot guarantee judges' feedback on individual entries, however, if you would like a better understanding of the process, get in touch via our live chat  where you can speak with a member of The Drum team.

Sure!

You can nominate yourself/colleague/client by completing this form with your details.

A member of The Drum team will be in touch if the application is successful.

Please note that completing this form does not guarantee a place on the jury. Our team will reach out should you be selected to participate.

We are committed to fostering diversity and inclusivity within our panels, and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

More information regarding the criteria can be found on the application form.