Entries close at Midday on Monday, 29 August, and with the first jury session only days later, there is no room for latecomers.

Agencies can register here. The Awards themselves will take place on Wednesday, 23 November.

“The number of entries this year and the interest shown in the Awards has been exceptional and we believe we will surpass last year’s entry numbers,” says Craig Page-Lee, this year’s AdFocus jury chairperson and independent consultant to the marketing and communications industry.

The more stringent submission criteria for 2016 should also see a hugely improved quality of submissions, he says, with credible facts and figures to support the well-packaged case studies that are required across not only the creative categories, but also media categories this year.

“While all eyes and ears are focused on the Loeries creative awards festival taking place in Durban, I’m sure the focus will quickly shift to wrapping up your Adfocus Awards submissions the week thereafter. I would like to wish all agency Groups the very best with this process and look forward to reviewing the work with my esteemed colleagues at judging,” he adds.

Student of the Year Award
This year, Nedbank has extended its sponsorship of the AdFocus Student of the Year Award, meaning the 2016 winner will once again receive a R35 000 cash prize. Advertising and branding schools and colleges are invited to send in portfolios of up to three students. Deadline for entries is Monday, 26 September.

This will be the third time Nedbank is sponsoring Student of the Year. The first award, in 2014, was won by Tarryn Chudleigh, a design and art direction student at Cape Town’s Red & Yellow School. In 2015, the winner was Sarah Mitchell, from the Vega School of Brand Leadership in Durban with fellow finalists Kirsten Bennett, from the Red & Yellow School, and Megan Brits, from Stellenbosch Design Academy.

Entry is limited to second- and third-year students but may include any discipline, including photography, film, creative, design, digital, copywriting or strategy. Portfolios are assessed by a specialist AdFocus jury. The top three students are invited to the AdFocus Awards event - including flights and accommodation - where the eventual winner is named.

“The Student Award reflects the local talent that is coming up into the industry and provides a great opportunity for students, not only in terms of the prize and recognition, but to get to know the industry as they spend a day with an industry prior to the Awards evening. We would like to thank the agencies who accommodate the students.”

Partnership of the Year Award
This Award has always been popular with agencies and clients and this year interest has peaked. This year the Award has been revised, with clearer criteria introduced, and a new award partner, The Observatory International, brought on board.

Being a partnership award, clients and agencies must enter together. The relationship, between a brand and an agency, must be an established, continuous one of at least three years' duration.

The winners, besides receiving certificates, will also receive client-agency performance measurement consulting to the value of R100 000 from The Observatory International. If they already have an agency performing this function, they may nominate an alternative client-agency partnership to receive the prize. If the beneficiary should be a nascent partnership that could not otherwise afford such support, so much the better.

Page-Lee says the interest in the Award is testament to the fact that a successful campaign is about the relationship between the agency and the client. “We are also very grateful to The Observatory International for their sponsorship of the Award.”

New Broom Award
The House of Brave will once again be sponsoring the New Broom Award at this year’s Annual AdFocus Awards in November.

The New Broom Award looks for a game-changer in the industry, and this year the definition was extended from individuals to include a breakthrough small agency. This follows the winners in 2015, who were a photographic collective. The Award is not intended to reward ordinary excellence, but game-changers – people doing extraordinary things. Individual nominees must be under 35, and agencies employ no more than 10 people.

House of Brave CEO Andrew Shuttleworth says: “We believe that to be successful in the advertising and communications world, young entrepreneurs have to be brave. This is the philosophy that underpins us as an agency and we want to encourage and grow more young people to be brave in their thinking and in their endeavours, while celebrating and showcasing the great talent that SA has to offer.”

PR Agency of the Year
This year, Public Relations Agency of the Year Award has been included as a separate Award. In previous years PR agencies entered into the Specialised Agency category. The number of PR agencies that entered, prompted the jury to establish a separate Award for PR. “Thus far interest from the PR industry has been very good and we are excited to judge the entries and name a winner in the inaugural PR Agency of the Year Award,” says Page-Lee.

For more information, visit www.adfocus.co.za.