Categories

With an extensive range of categories to choose from, there is something for every kind of business here. Our categories are designed to give you the opportunity to showcase your business and people. We even consider a category where the budget is relatively small but big work has been achieved. Check out all the categories below. We are sure you will find one that suits you and your team!

Categories as follows:

Campaign Categories

1. Best Digital Campaign

2. Best Creative Campaign

3. Best Media Campaign

4. Best Sales Team Campaign

5. Best Integrated Campaign

6. Best PR / Social Campaign

This section gives you a real opportunity to demonstrate a great campaign by the discipline you are representing. The judges are looking for:

  • Innovative and creative thinking to deliver the campaign
  • Demonstration of creative thinking and sharing of where the idea came from
  • ROI – Share where you can and talk about the success of the activity and what it achieved
  • Share anything that will help the judges in marking and makes your work stand out

Tell the story of why you delivered this activity in the way you did.

Specialist Categories

7. Best Animation

Encompassing animation, 3D, VFX – broadcast, social or online. We’re looking for entries that demonstrate crafted animation and flair. Stop motion, hand-drawn, 3D, motion graphics, or a blend of visual FX. This content can be created for any channel – TV, Online, Broadcast or Social for brands and campaign work. We will also be looking for how use of animation has provided the best solution.

8. Best Video

A category for filmmakers / directors, encompassing film, brand films, commercials and creative content. Whatever platform or channel, if this was created for a campaign or brand then you can enter it. The entrant to this category must be the company that created the content.

9. Best Podcast

A category for in-house productions or podcast producers / companies and the businesses that hired them to make their podcast.

In this category, we’re looking for your top-notch podcasts. Whatever genre or format, we want to hear how you have reflected your brand, company, or campaign in an engaging, creative, and effective audible format. We want to hear up to at least a 10-minute mp3, so we can get a real flavour for your content. Equally if it is a series, we can accept up to 3 for judges to mark.

Please be clear in your entry if you are the podcast company / producer that has been commissioned on behalf of a business to make the podcast. In this case, please reference the company name. Vice versa, if you are the company who has commissioned a production company / producer, please reference them in your entry.

10. Best Audio

Audio is often overlooked so we wanted to introduce this category for all those members and non-members who have asked that we include this very important sector. For this category, we are looking for a campaign, single execution or a series of executions that use Audio as the central deliverable. This can be any form of audio including radio commercials, voice overs, jingles, music scores … anything that demonstrates really good quality audio executions.

Unique Categories

11. Big Bang Award – Under £50,000 budget

We are talking BIG impact for a small budget. Enter this category if you’ve achieved exceptional, results and impact with a spend under £50,000. This award could be for a sales campaign, creative campaign, commercial, video production, animated series, digital campaign, social media, PR, event, charity, media campaign, B2B … basically any channel and discipline counts here. Think broad and bold. It’s open to all sectors within the creative and media community.

12. Collaboration – working with others in Manchester

Show how you’ve worked alongside another agency/company, with their team actively involved to help you deliver a more inspiring result for your client. You’ll need to demonstrate collaboration between both or all of the companies involved – with effective results. The collaboration can be between agencies from any medium and on any platform(s), but all partners must be based in Greater Manchester and the work must have been created here also.

13. Martyn Hett Inspiring Manchester Award

In 2017, the MPA invited Paul Evans, Rumpus PR MD, to celebrate his colleague Martyn’s life and to be recognised at our event with the Inspiring Manchester Award. This award is now named after Martyn so that we always recognise one of our own who tragically lost his life along with 21 other victims in the 2017 Manchester bombing. This award will be in recognition of any activity that reflects our great City and its people and purpose. It can be from any medium, can be focused on individuals, companies, brands, not-for-profit or charity campaigns. Anything that reflects our City and its true spirit.

14. Innovation Award

Another category that plays to the innovation that surrounds us in our magic City. We are looking for any company who has created a new product or service and launched this to market. This can be for their own company or for a client who has charged them with creating, producing, and delivering a new innovative product or service. Get creative with this one and really stand out.

People Categories

15. Apprentice Award

This award will celebrate the impact of an apprentice who has excelled in their role by making a positive contribution to their organisation. Apprentice entrants can be in any year of their apprenticeship. Providing that the candidate has not been a finalist before, they can be entered. The employer, not the apprentice, should make this entry.

16. Rising Star Award

Have you employed an inspiring new talent in the industry? This award will he handed over to an individual who has been judged by their peers to have excelled in their grasp of the industry and contribution to the business overall. More than likely, this person will be (1) Under 30 years of age (2) A new employee to your business within the last 12 months or someone who has recently taken on a new role in your business and has excelled within that role. Judges will be looking for initiative and entrepreneurial spirit and a can do attitude. Please note individuals cannot nominate themselves.

17. MPA Mentor Award *NEW FOR 2025*

Here we are looking for nominations for people in your business that have excelled in mentoring others. They can be a line manager, senior team player or could have offered their mentoring as a volunteer outside of the organisation.

We want to see that they have gone over and above what their day-to-day role entails, as well as a demonstration of how they have impacted someone else’s career development and achievements.

This award is for someone who everyone would truly agree they have excelled! Please note, they cannot self nominate.

18. College Student Award

19. University Student Award

After the success of this award over the last five years, the MPA are to recognise once again student talent at this year’s awards. To reflect the broader range of HE establishments in Greater Manchester, this award is now open to final year students from any HE establishment. Once again we are offering an award for a University Student and also a College Student, as long as they are in full time education and over 18.

We want this celebration of outstanding achievement to:

  • Enable career pathways to be forged
  • Enhance CV / Portfolio and offer a chance to network with industry influencers
  • Demonstrate a pathway to ‘Rising Stars’ which celebrates new talent in the industry
  • 3 finalists from each either College or University will be invited to attend the 2025 MPA Awards celebration and dinner where the winners will be announced on the night
  • The student must enter this themselves and is free to enter

20. My Freelance Hero Award

This is a free to enter category by the nominee only and recognises the talent of our freelance community and the vital, often heroic, support freelancers give creative businesses throughout the year. The freelance category must be entered by a business who would like to nominate a freelancer that they have worked with during 2024/25 – see the entry form for details. A freelancer can’t self-nominate, but this is free to enter for the nominating company.

21. Media Sales Team of the Year

For any organisation no matter what size that has their roots in securing the best possible media sales solution for its clients.

22. Agency of the Year

For any agency of any size no matter what their discipline. It’s a real showcase opportunity.

The ‘Of The Year’ awards are for two types of businesses – Agency Of The Year (any type of agency from any discipline) and Media Sales Team Of The Year.

We are looking for companies in these categories that can demonstrate that their overall business over the past year has exceeded the norm. (Please note the number of employees is based on FTE).

The judges will be looking for:

  • Growth and development initiatives
  • How you support your people
  • What have you done over and above that has significantly impacted on your business model?
  • What new initiatives have you brought into your business dynamics that reflect growth, business wins, and decisions made to achieve success?
  • In addition, what highlights can you share? Tell us why you are a worthy winner.

Grand Prix Categories

23. Best Place to Work

Our people are one of our most important assets and non-more so than now. What we want to see in this category is how you can demonstrate your ‘people-first’ mentality which is an intrinsic part of your culture. We want to see more than just free classes, health, and wellbeing, although these are important; We want you to demonstrate some innovative long terms plans you have put in place to support your teams, their growth and achievements.

24. Best of the Best

This will be awarded by the judges from winning entries from the Best Campaign Categories as well the Best Specialism Categories. The judges will look to select one worthy winner from these to be crowned ‘Best of the Best’ on the night. So, this is a free entry effectively, as long as you have entered one of the above to qualify – you do not need to enter this, your entry will be automatically submitted.

25. Business of the Year

This will be awarded by the judges from all of the campaign entries no matter what discipline or category was entered. We are looking to award this to any scale or size of business including new start-ups, new to Manchester, independent, part of a group. The entrant must be based and operating out of Manchester. We will be looking for details on growth, new wins, overcoming challenges. This is a free entry and if you have entered other categories, you will be eligible. You will be asked to opt in and complete the basic entry details as you enter a category to be considered for Business of the Year.

26. MPA Award

The MPA Board will award a prize to an outstanding company or individual no matter what category they may have entered or if they are winners already. This award is at the sole discretion of the MPA Board. This may also recognise people or companies who have not entered the awards. They will be looking for a winner who has excelled in Manchester and have contributed in some form to our City.