With nominations now flowing in for the 2025 iGB Affiliate Awards, competition to make it to the shortlist promises to be more intense than ever before. Internal judging lead Stephen Carter provides some insider advice on creating a submission that achieves maximum cut-through with the judges and gives your nominated business or individual the best possible chance of progressing.
Quality trumps quantity, every time
Contrary to popular misconception, securing multiple nominations for a company or affiliate manager in a category does not significantly increase their chances of being shortlisted for or winning an iGB Affiliate Award.
When assessing a submission, our judges apply greatest weighting to the most comprehensive and detailed application which fully addresses the criteria and questions, backed up by relevant KPIs and compelling supporting materials.
Securing multiple nominations for a company or affiliate manager will not significantly increase their chances of being shortlisted
While some stakeholders entrust agencies with all the information they need to undertake these submissions on their behalf, as a rule it’s only employees of the nominee business who can provide that detailed application that ticks all the boxes as they have access to all the information being requested.
In short, any time invested in entering this year’s iGBA Awards is best spent on providing one kick-a** nomination instead of on getting all your industry friends to nominate you!
Don’t be shy
We understand companies or managers may be reticent to provide some KPIs and information due to these being commercially and/or competitively sensitive. Which is why the iGBA Awards introduced a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) requiring all our judges to keep all submitted information strictly confidential. This means you can be comfortable submitting as much detail as possible in response to our questions without having to worry about this information being revealed externally.
And the greater the level of detail and granularity the submitter provides around financials, NDCs, conversions, case studies etc. the greater the chances of their nominee progressing to the next stage and of coming out on top on the big night.
Ensure eligibility
Our categories are grouped on our 2025 awards page according to the type of business or stakeholder they are aimed at: affiliates, individuals, programmes/networks and third-party service providers, with a fifth group of categories open to all types of businesses.
Once you have checked you are nominating in the correct category, before clicking on the blue button to start a submission you are strongly advised to read all the information and criteria for that category as well as any specific notes (in bold caps and italic at the bottom).
The different criteria across the categories means a submission in the wrong category will be marked unjudgeable and your time and hard work will be wasted!
Due to the criteria being very different across the categories, once a nomination has been received in the wrong category or one where you will have less chance of winning, it isn’t possible for us to simply move it into the correct or more suitable category. We will have no choice but to mark it as ‘unjudgeable’ and your time and hard work will have been wasted!
So please double check you are submitting in the right category which plays to your strengths before starting your nomination.
Answer the ‘so what’
A primary purpose of the iGB Affiliate Awards is to showcase disruptive and fast-growing businesses. Consistently conveying what makes the nominee unique, exceptional and standout in their field is a surefire way to help your submission achieve the desired cut-through with the judges and progress. If you read back your draft responses and they all pass the ‘so what’ test i.e. make it crystal clear to the judges why they should care about what you are saying, why it’s relevant and why you deserve to win, then your submission is likely on the right track. Case studies providing real-life success stories from partners, users or customers of how they have benefitted and grown from working with you, your business or product have proved very effective in getting this across to the judges.
Keep it simple
Our judges are subject matter experts so please avoid lengthy and complex explanations. If you introduced what you consider to be game-changing features or functionalities during the period and want to showcase these to the judges, consider providing them with a link to a short Loom video walking them through these.
Consider showcasing game-changing features to the judges with a short walkthrough video on Loom
Also try to keep your written responses concise and well-structured. Your submission is one of many the judges will be reading and scoring and big blocks of solid text can be difficult for them to digest. Using headings and bullet points to break up and clearly structure your responses will make it easier for the judges to navigate and extract the essential information they need from your application.
With shortlists often decided by the finest of margins, spending that bit of extra time ensuring your submission is as simple as possible for the judges to assess could give you that critical edge over your peers you need to progress to the next stage.
Nomination forms and further information on the Awards night, judges and process can be found on our 2025 Awards page.