The Communications Council has opened the 2017 Call for Entries for the Australian Effie Awards, with the closing date set for Thursday April 20. It will be possible to submit entries from April 21 to May 4, but a late fee will be charged.

This will be the ninth year that awards celebrate the effectiveness of creative communications, recognising campaigns that can demonstrate outstanding measurable results.

Three new categories will be introduced this year:

• Marketing Solutions other than Communications – How the core solution to the marketing challenge helped a business to grow or overcome barriers using marketing levers other than communications e.g. product, pricing, distribution or innovation.
• Media-Led Idea – Media cannot exist without content, but this award is intended to recognise those cases that were led by the media thinking, and would not have been successful without the strategic media idea.
• Media Partnership Activation – Winners of this award will represent those advertisers and media partners that knew exactly where and how to connect with their audience via the assets of a media company.

The full list of 25 categories:

The Communications Council chief executive officer, Tony Hale, said, “The Australian Effie Awards ceremony has become an important annual event for the marketing communications industry in Australia, providing both a showcase and a benchmark for excellence in the area that matters most to our clients – delivering results.  The Australian Effies continues to evolve with the changing nature of marketing communications. We anticipate the three new categories will generate strong interest.”

Agencies are also invited again to nominate clients for the Effective Advertiser of the Year Award, to applaud those who champion effectiveness.

Round One Judging will take place online June 12-15, with finalists announced on June 28. Round Two Judging is set for July 31.

All Effie winners will be announced at an awards dinner and presentation in Sydney on Thursday August 31.

Find out everything you need to know and entre here. www.effies.com.au.