The 5th annual UnAwards launch TODAY. They’re the most accessible industry awards around. Now is not a time to quietly sit back and hope your boss recognises and appreciates your efforts. So try and get yourself shortlisted for an UnAward to really put your work on the organisational map.

by Darren Caveney

2018. It's felt to me a lot like 2017 only more extreme. Certainly for the communications industry, and pretty much everything else which has occupied our time and minds too.

So as summer turns to autumn September always throws me full pelt into UnAwards planning, a time to reflect on to ponder on the theme for this year.

But this year's theme actually emerged pretty quickly to be honest and is based on my travels around the UK working with teams this year and the work which really stood out.

The theme for the UnAwards18…

Is this:

It’s the work which made a genuine difference, which nailed it creatively, which met its objectives, which could measure and prove its success. Work which changed something for the better. And captured your audience’s attention in a crowded, cluttered world.

Of course that can be easier said and done against a backdrop of further cuts and increasing demand for some in the public sector.

Team size, budget, skills and resource can impact our work.

But you will not be judged on these things.

So if you have a budget of £50 and a team of, well, just you, you can absolutely win an UnAward. Others have so why not you?

For our resources shouldn't - mustn't even - get in the way of delivering a piece of work, project or campaign which made that real difference.

Proving the difference which comms made is of course key. We are mature enough as an industry to know how to do this well now.

New to the UnAwards?

Well there's more here but in a nutshell they are the most accessible and innovative awards in our industry - free to enter, fun to attend and a celebration of our community's achievements.

There are 18 categories, so something for everyone

Even better you can enter the same piece of work in multiple categories to increase your chances of being shortlisted.

And if you come along to the big day – shortlisted or not – you’ll enjoy one of the very best networking events of the year

Oh and you get to watch a classic movie, which always remains a closely guarded secret until the day.

The UnAwards grow in size and credibility year on year. Last year was a record breaker…

414 entries
70 shortlisted
18 winners
140 attendees
10k unique visitors to the UnAwards website
3k public votes
557k Twitter reach in the week of the UnAwards alone

The UnAwards – they keep on giving

Each year the winners are invited to showcase their winning work at the popular UnAwards Winners Masterclass in the new year. Also free to attend.

So, ‘People of Comms’

2018 is not the time for communicators to sit back quietly and hope the budget axe doesn't swing our way again for a while. Unfortunately it will for some of you.

How often have you heard the phrase – comms and pr people are bad at their own comms and pr?

That really shouldn’t be the case should it? Would you buy the services of a web agency who had a terrible web site?

So it’s time to kill that one off for good.

It's time to promote our successes – shout them, if not quite from rooftops then at least down the corridors of power. Let’s be proud and celebrate our achievements.

Other professions do, and some may deliver a hell of a lot less than you do.

So embrace this rallying call and book out some time in your diaries to pull together your entries and showcase your best work.

No one else will do this for you :-)

That other non-important work demand which can stifle – meetings, ad-hoc requests, multiple distractions and the “could you just…” passing trade won’t go away. Ever.

But you might have a rather nice UnAward-winning certificate hanging proudly on your office wall.

Have a good look at the dedicated UnAwards website here and you can grab the simple-to-complete entry form HERE.

Entries close on 25 October at midnight - you can see the full #UnAwards18 timetable HERE.

I’m looking forward to seeing your brilliant work.

Keep watching @comms2point0 for the latest news and updates.

Darren Caveney is creator of comms2point0, owner of the creative communicators ltd and organiser of the UnAwards

image via Tullio Saba