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 (ends 11 June)
£495 +VAT(if applicable)

Standard (ends 30 July)
£595 +VAT(if applicable)

Extended Deadline (starts 31 July)
£714 +VAT(if applicable)

Early-bird deadline: Thursday,11 June, 2026
Official deadline: Thursday, 30 July 2026
Extended deadline: Thursday, 3 September, 2026

We’ll reveal this year’s nominees on our website and across our social channels, so make sure you’re following us to be the first to know. If you’ve entered, keep an eye on your inbox too.

We’ll notify all entrants directly as soon as the shortlist is announced: 7–16 October, from 3:00pm BST.

Winners revealed Live at our multi-day awards festival this November in The Drum Labs in London (Dates coming soon)

The results will be revealed during The Drum Awards Festival, taking place in The Drum Labs this November, our biggest celebration of the year. Across a multi-day programme of afternoon and evening shows, we’ll unveil the shortlisted work in each category before announcing our Gold, Silver and Bronze winners live on stage.

Gold and Silver winners will be invited to collect The Drum trophies in front of the industry.

Full festival dates will be announced soon.

Good news! The B2B Categories have become part of our brand new B2B Awards Programme as part of B2B World Fest 2026. More categories, bespoke awards, better chances of winning – check it out! 

Campaigns must have been live between September 2025 and September 2026.

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.

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.

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

After the extended deadline date, editing will close for the duration of the judging period. Following the announcement of nominations, you will have the opportunity to review your submitted entry. Should you identify any required corrections (such as updates to credits, logos, or spelling), you will be permitted one round of amendments at no additional cost.

Any subsequent changes may be made through our entry amendment service, which incurs an administration fee of £50 + VAT per amendment.

Please contact the team should you require this service.

Entries are evaluated by the jury across three core criteria: Planning, Execution, and Results.

While all entries are assessed using this framework, the weighting of each criterion varies by discipline to reflect the nature of the work.

For example:

- Categories such as Advertising and Design place greater emphasis on creative excellence and craft.
- Media categories prioritise strategic insight, data and effectiveness.
- Agency Business categories focus more on business performance, leadership, and outcomes.

Each category description outlines the specific judging focus, helping entrants tailor their submissions accordingly.

Entries are scored using a consistent points-based system, with judges allocating scores relative to the weighting of each criterion.

Following pre-judging, the jury meets to agree on final awards. All work is judged fairly and objectively, regardless of budget or scale. Judges may move entries into more appropriate categories where needed.

Judges are not required to award a Gold, Silver, or Bronze in every category. Awards are only given where work meets the standard - meaning some categories may have multiple winners at the same level, or none at all if entries don't meet the benchmark.

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.