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2027 Reed Awards
Eligibility & Judging Criteria
Eligibility
For an entry to be eligible it must relate to a piece of work delivered/executed in the calendar year 2026.
If you have questions about whether an individual entry is eligible please contact us here.
Work from outside the US is eligible in all categories except those that are explicitly for US work – for example, categories for gubernatorial, US House and US Senate races.
Use of AI
The Reed Awards welcome entries that make use of artificial intelligence tools and several categories specifically recognize innovative uses of AI.
AI may be used in any entry, provided that it does not violate the standards set forth in this policy. Entries may not use AI in a manner that materially misrepresents a person’s words or conduct. This standard applies to AI-generated audio, video, or imagery. Whether an entry meets this standard will be determined by the C&E publishers at their sole discretion.
Entries found to break this policy may be removed from consideration or disqualified, in line with our Ethics Review process. Entrants will not be entitled to a refund for any entries disqualified.
Password Protection/Access Request on File Uploads/Collateral
If you are submitting any collateral as part of your entry(ies) - for example, links to videos/documents in the cloud - they must be publicly accessible to judges. Judges must not be required to use a password to view or be required to request access to view any piece of collateral you are submitting. Any entries in violation of this rule will be disqualified.
Judging Criteria & Scoring
The majority of Reed Award categories are judged across three distinct scoring criteria:
- Creative Quality
- Implementation and Performance
- Overall Quality
A minority of Reed Award categories, defined as 'organization categories' (for example, Best New Firm), are judged across the following criteria:
- Value to Industry
- Potential for Growth
- Overall Score
Finally, a handful of 'professional development' categories (for example, Best Employer) are judged on a single criterion:
- Overall Quality
The final score for each entry in each judging round is determined by the average of the total scores given by each judge that judges the entry in question in a given round.
Winner status is accorded to the highest scoring entry in each category (or entries in rare cases where multiple entries receive a joint-highest score).
Judges
The Reed Judging Panel is made up of individuals representing a broad spectrum of expertise and experience in political campaigning and communications. A rigorous process is followed to ensure that judges are never assigned to any category in which they might have a conflict of interest, whether due to the nature of the category itself or individual entrants within a category.
Ethics Review
If an entry or an entrant is flagged by a judge or other third party as being potentially unethical it will trigger a review by the C&E publishers who may, at their sole discretion, determine, 1) whether the entry will be removed from consideration from the competition, 2) whether an entrant should be disqualified from the Reed Awards entirely. Note: in instances where the C&E publishers determine that an entry or entries must be disqualified, the entrant will not be entitled to a refund for any entries so disqualified.