Palmetto Awards Entry Guidelines

Back to the Palmetto Awards information page.

JUDGING AND WINNING
Entries are judged and scored individually, not against other entries in a category. An entry can receive an Award of Merit or an Award of Excellence based on the scores. By entering and attending the event, you are able to:

  • Benchmark your work against the best from other professional communicators
  • Receive valuable, qualitative feedback
  • Impress clients, those within your organization, and potential employers

WINNERS RECEIVE

  • An award to proudly display in your office
  • Your name and company name on the IABC/SC website
  • Division winners are considered for the annual “Star of the Show” award

CONTEST DETAILS
All entries must have been produced between June 1, 2021 and Aug. 16, 2024. If a long-term strategy was developed prior to June 2021 and was not previously entered, it is eligible for entry. If you entered your work in 2022 or 2023 and it did not win an award, you may revise and re-enter your project as long as the work was imple­mented, published or broadcast between June 1, 2021 and the day of submission. Entries that have won in previous years may not be resubmitted. You do not have to be an IABC member to enter. But, members do receive discounted pricing. Here is how to enter:

  • Select a work sample. Tell your best story.
  • Choose a category. You may enter the same work sample in multiple
    categories.
  • Complete the work plan. Each entry must have a separate work plan.
  • Upload your completed entry* here.
  • Pay the entry fee with a check, credit card or money order.

*Incomplete entries will be disqualified.

COST
The following fees are per entry and do not include a ticket to the awards ceremony:

Entrant Category Early Deadline
(July 19, 2024 by  5 p.m.)		 Late Deadline
(Aug. 16, 2024 by 5 p.m.)
IABC Member $125 $150
Non-Member $150 $175
Student $75 $100

 

 

You can pay these fees with a credit card via PayPal when uploading an entry. If paying by check or money order, send to:

IABC/SC
PO Box 1814
Columbia, SC 29202

DEADLINE
The deadline to upload here is Friday, Aug. 16 at 5 p.m.

QUESTIONS
Contact the Palmetto Awards Chair, Bailey Lewis, at palmettoawards.iabcsc@gmail.com.

WORK PLAN (Division 1, 2 or 3 only)
A work plan is required for each entry in Division 1, 2 or 3, and will count for half of your final score. Each work plan should:

    • Provide details about your objectives
    • Explain how the project/program was developed
    • Showcase results

The work plan must be a single PDF file and may not exceed three pages (minimum of 10-point font) in the format below.

    • Category Name: ___________________________________________
    • Category Code (letter and number): ______________________________
    • Entry Title: ________________________________________________
    • Entrant’s Name: ____________________________________________
    • Entrant’s Company or Organization: ______________________________
    • Client’s Name (if applicable): ___________________________________

PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY
What was the purpose of this effort? What need or opportunity did it address? How did the need/opportunity affect the organization? In other words: Why did you do what you did?

TARGET AUDIENCE
Describe your intended audience(s) and audience characteristics that caused you to select this solution over other available approaches. In other words: Who are you trying to reach and why?

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
What measurable and/or specific objectives did you set for your project? Why did you choose the medium you used? In other words: How would you know if and when you succeeded?

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND PRODUCTION
Describe the chosen product/approach, its elements, schedules, budget, limitations, available resources, etc. How did you deal with any limits or challenges that could have affected the results? In other words: How did you do what you did?

RESULTS AND EVALUATION
What indicators did you use to measure each objective? What results were achieved? In other words: How successful were you?

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS (Division 4 only)

You do not need to complete a detailed work plan for the Communication Skills division. Instead, you will need to complete the additional questions that appear on the online entry form which will be submitted along with your work sample(s). The form fields provided for answering the questions have character limits as stated below, so keep your answers concise.

    • Describe your organization and project. (800-character limit, including spaces)
    • Describe the business need that led to this project being undertaken. (1,000-character limit, including spaces)
    • Who was the audience for this project? What do you know about the audience? (1000-character limit, including spaces)
    • What were the measurable objectives for the project? Please provide no more than three objectives, and describe how they are aligned with the business need. (1,000-character limit, including spaces)
    • What were the key messages for the project? Name no more than three messages. (1,000-character limit, including spaces)
    • Describe the resources (budget, time, others) available for the project and how effectively they were managed. (1000-character limit, including spaces)
    • Provide a brief summary of how you used these insights (business needs, audiences, objectives and key messages) to guide the development of your project. (1,500 character limit, including spaces)
    • How well were the measurable objectives met? Show the relationship between the objectives you set and the results you achieved. (1,000-character limit, including spaces)

WORK SAMPLE
After you submit your work plan, you will be able to upload a maximum of five work sample files. Your sample files must be in PDF, PNG, JPG, GIF, MP4, TIF, WAV, WMV, M4V, or MOV formats. If you want to submit more than five work samples, you should combine them into fewer files. Each file is limited to 2 GB (2,000 MB) in size.

ABOUT IABC/SC
IABC/SC links organizational business communicators to a global network of communication professionals who develop, establish and adhere to the highest professional standards of quality and innovation in organizational/business communication. The association strives to foster understanding and respect toward integrating communication activities in organizations/businesses. If you are interested in joining IABC/SC, please click here.