📅 Eligibility & Key Dates
The Eligibility Window
- Core Window: Entries will be considered for work that has been commercially launched in South Africa between May 1st, 2025, and June 12th, 2026.
- Upcoming Campaigns: If you are working on a campaign due to go live before 17 July 2026, it will be accepted provided all relevant results and stats are supplied before judging begins on 27 July 2026.
- Entries Open: The early bird entry window for the WesBank New Generation Awards officially opens on 10 April 2026.
🏆 Maximizing Your Wins: Black Onyx Categories
If you plan to submit entries across multiple categories, we highly recommend entering your work and clients into the prestigious Black Onyx Award Categories.
⚠️ Important Note: These categories are marked separately by a dedicated panel based on your overall performance across the competition. You cannot win a Black Onyx Award unless you have explicitly submitted entries in these specific categories, with the exception of the three free categories listed below. If you perform exceptionally well on awards night but have no representation in the Black Onyx Categories, you could miss out on a main headline award.
🎁 Free Categories (No Entry Form Required)
The following three flagship awards are completely free of charge. Winners are automatically calculated based on overall performance across the entire competition:
- Digital Brand of the Year
- Large Agency of the Year
- Overall Social & Digital Corporate of the Year
📝 7 Golden Rules for a Winning Entry
To elevate your submission from standard practice into something magical, follow these criteria:
1. Tailor Entry to Category (No Copy-Pasting)
- Customise your entry to the specific category it is entered into. Give the judges a distinct reason why you deserve to win that particular award.
- While entering the same campaign into multiple categories is perfectly acceptable, judges mark according to specific category merits. For example, the focus for “Best Low Budget Campaign” must differ wildly from “Best Use of Technical Innovation”.
- Penalty Warning: If you 'copy and paste' identical content across multiple categories, judges reserve the right to deduct points from your final score.
2. Prove the Data & Budget (Confidential)
- Include clear, measurable objectives and benchmarks for success. Without these, judges cannot accurately assess campaign efficiency.
- You must declare your budget—even if the budget is R0.00. Rest assured, all financial figures are kept strictly confidential and will never be published.
- For the Most Viral Campaign Category, you must supply actual, raw numbers to back up your results, not just percentages. It is impossible to judge virality on percentages alone.
3. Keep it Concise & Synced to the Brief
- Entry submissions should be clear, relevant, and direct. Avoid long, confusing explanations.
- Limit the volume of accompanying documents, PowerPoints, and videos. Instead, focus on staying perfectly in sync with the brief requirements of that specific award.
4. Connect Creative to Strategy
- Winning campaigns must display an on-strategy creative execution that shows a crystal-clear link between the original business objectives and the final outcomes.
- Clearly articulate results for short-, medium-, and long-term goals and/or the return on investment (ROI) for the client.
5. Never Assume Prior Knowledge
- Do not assume the judging panel has prior knowledge of your campaign. Write a standalone, concise summary that provides all necessary context from scratch.
6. Updating Past Work? Show the Evolution
- If you wish to resubmit a campaign for the 2026 awards that was previously entered in 2025, you must clearly demonstrate significant changes that affected the outcome and results in 2026.
- All changes must be explicitly identified and highlighted on the attached entry form.
7. Polish & Proofread
- Make sure your entry is impeccably written. To STAND OUT, ensure your text is clear, concise, and thoroughly spell-checked before hitting submit!
