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Mobile awards play a very important role. They showcase best practice in mobile Web, marketing and services, bringing great kudos for the winners and inspiration for the rest of us. But with dozens of mobile awards around the globe, with vastly varying quality, coverage and price, where should you be entering your mobile site, app, campaign or service, and from which awards are we likely to learn the most?

The yardstick of quality awards, in mobiThinking’s opinion, is the legacy. After the glitzy dinner and the press release, what is left? Is there a valuable resource detailing why these sites, campaigns, services deserved to win? All awards should précis each of the winning campaigns with video case studies, where available, and provide links to further information – this way we can all learn from these best-practice campaigns and winners get to show off their achievements to potential clients. Cannes Lions has been providing full details of every entry for years. Some mobile awards are starting to emulate this, but many do little more than put out a press release listing the winners. Now that Cannes has launched the Mobile Lions those awards that continue to do the lowest common denominator will look increasingly pointless.

Where they are not provided by the awards organizers, mobiThinking collects links, descriptions and/or videos for the winning campaigns. mobiThinking is gradually adding all the major mobile awards to this guide.

So why should you want to win an award?
• For the brand – it’s great publicity for your mobile service (most awards are inundated by mobile apps that are desperate to increase public awareness). Highlight your innovation to consumers. Share your success with your peers – remember if no one shared best-practice campaigns, no one would learn.
• For agencies – there’s no better way to advertise your exceptional services.
• For both – if the judges love it, so should the consumers. How better to validate your mobile strategy is on track?

A word of warning…
Many awards focus on creativity rather than effectiveness. This is why a flashy novelty mobile app with a 10,000 downloads might beat a messaging-based CRM campaign which delivered 100,000 opted-in subscribers or delivering US$1 million in revenue. All brands should make certain that the advice they receive from their agency is motivated by driving incremental business for the client, rather than the likelihood of the agency picking up an award. Read this:
• Why your ad agency likes mobile apps

For some tips from awards judges, see:
• How to create an award-winning mobile campaign

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Other guides in this series:
• Guide to mobile agencies • Guide to mobile ad networks • The insiders' guides to world’s top mobile markets • Compendium of global mobile stats

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Global Mobile Awards

• Founded: 1995.
• Organized by: GSMA.
• Deadline for entries: November each year.
• Winners announced: February each year, at GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
• Entry fee: €450 (US $599.884) per entry for GSMA Members; €500 ($666.538) for Non GSMA Members; €200 ($266.607) for entries in for Social and economic development category.
• Categories in 2013 (Click for winners in each category): The Connected Life Awards; Best Mobile Services; Social and Economic Development; Apps of the Year; Best Mobile Handsets and Devices; Best Technology; Government Mobile Excellence Awards; Outstanding Achievement Award.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Global Mobile Awards have an 18-year pedigree and are well-respected within the mobile business. Where other awards concentrate on particular aspects of mobile – marketing, services, apps, devices, technology or ethical initiatives – the GSMA attempts to cover it all in one set of awards. This gives the Global Mobile Awards a jack-of-all-trades feel and a lack of focus, but provides an interesting overview of everything that is happening in mobile. Some categories you can’t enter, including the best mobile app and device categories, which is a bit unusual. Also in 2013 the Mobile marketing & advertising category disappeared, which makes the GSMA awards less attractive to mobile marketers/agencies.
Most winners are given a short write up and a comment from the judges, which is very useful. Disappointingly there are no video case studies (at the time of writing), so mobiThinking is collecting these from the winners. We also lament the disappearance of the excellent Awards history section, which detailed all previous winners in each category, going back years.
• 2012 mobile winners include: Coca-Cola, McCann, NTT DOCOMO, Amazon Connection, Almas Line, Vodafone Instant Network, SK Telecom, KT Corporation, Facebook, Evernote, Waze, Sky, AT&T ARO, My Airtel, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Asha, HTC One, Nexus 7, BlindSquare, Mobilink, DriveNow, Flous, NewsHunt, Parker, Mobilelron, Mahindra Comviva, Indus Towers, AccuROAM, Jasper Wireless, Messaging Trust.
• Previous winners: 2012 Winners.

• Check out: Full details of Global Mobile Awards 2013 Winners with 12 videos.

• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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World Summit Award (WSA) for Mobile Content 2013

• Founded: 2010
• Organized by: International Center for New Media (Austria).
• Deadline for entries: August, 2012. Entries have to be nominated by the expert in your country.
• Winners announced: 40 winners were announced in October 2012. Eight global mobile champions were announced February 2013, in Abu Dhabi.
• Categories in 2012/3: m-health, m-government, m-learning, m-inclusion, m-commerce, m-media and m-entertainment.
• Advantages: well-organized mobile awards: great categories; high quality of winners; as entrants are nominated by a local expert, it helps to ensure there’s a good spread of entrants from across the globe (102 counties). For each winner there is a description and, for many, video case studies, giving us all the chance to learn from the entries.
• Disadvantages: The nominee system places a lot of confidence in the ability of the designated country representative. Some countries will be wondering why their mobile sectors are underrepresented. The last time these awards ran (2010) there was a good spread of entries from across mobile media, but in 2012/3 the finalists/winners are dominated by smartphone applications. As these would only work on a small minority of handsets in most entrants’ countries, it is hard to see how these fit the WSA’s mandate to make the information society more inclusive. • 2013 Winners include: Hand Talk (Brazil); Roadroid (Sweden); Prognosis: Your Diagnosis (Sri Lanka); Project Noah (Canada); iButterfly (China); News 360 (United States); Harpoen (Indonesia); DerManDar Panorama.
• Previous winners: 2010 Winners.

• Check out: Full details of 2012 Winners with 30 videos.

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The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards (EMMAs)

• Founded: 2010.
• Organized by: Mobile Marketing Magazine.
• Deadline for entries: September each year.
• Entry fee: free (though originally there was a fee).
• Winners announced: November, each year at an awards dinner in London, UK.
• Categories in 2012: Most Effective Mobile… Search campaign; Couponing/Barcode Campaign; Affiliate Campaign; Sales Promotion/DR Campaign; Operator Campaign; CRM Campaign; Location-based Service; m-Commerce Solution; B2B App; B2C App; Tablet App; Ad Campaign; Mobile Ad Platform/Network; Mobile Site; AR Campaign; Charity Campaign/Solution; m-Ticketing Solution; m-Payment Solution; m-Travel & Tourism Solution.
• What the judges look for: Originality of idea (scored out of 10); quality of execution (out of 10); Effectiveness (out of 15).
• mobiThinking verdict: The quality of the entries for EMMAs are impressive for a relative newcomer to the awards circuit. The entries tend to be skewed towards the UK and Western Europe. The distinguishing feature of these awards is the focus on effectiveness. That means these winners have been honored because they delivered ROI for the client, not just because the creative looked nice. The organizers went to some trouble to précis the winning campaigns in this magazine, which is a lot more useful than the list of winners that some awards think is acceptable.
• Judges include: David Murphy, Mobile Marketing magazine; Helen Keegan, technokitten.com, The Heroes of the Mobile Screen; John Mew, IAB; Rob Thurner, Mobile Training Academy; Andy Favell, mobiThinking; Peggy-Anne Salz, MobileGroove; Cameron, Camerjam; Stuart Dredge, journalist; George Cole, journalist.
• 2012 Winners include (brand/agency): Papa John's (Net Media Planet); McDonald’s (MobileBits); The Body Shop (TradeDoubler); Unilever (Rabarba); O2 (Cherry London); British Gas (IMImobile); McDonald’s (OMD); Screwfix Direct (Netbiscuits); Wienerberger (Sync Interactive); EasyJet (Mobile Travel Technologies); Compsoft; Nokia (YOC); Fiksu; Pizza Hut (Bemoko); Stylist (Blippar); Vodafone; Samsung (Kilimanjaro Live/Intellitix); Barclays.
Previous winners: 2011 winners • 2010 winners.

• Check out: Full details of 2012 Winners with ten videos.

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Global Mobile Marketing Awards aka ‘The Smarties’

• Founded: 2004.
• Organized by: Mobile Marketing Association.
• Nominations start: June, each year.
• Deadline for entries: July, each year.
• Winners announced: October, each year.
• Categories in 2012: Best use of mobile marketing for… brand awareness; product/services launch; lead generation/DR; promotion; relationship building; cross-media integration; social impact; mobile Website; tablet campaign; in-app advertising; use of mobile social media; messaging; rich media; location; mCommerce; mobile app; innovation.
• mobiThinking verdict: The MMA Awards are well-respected and in the past has drawn in a broad range of mobile campaigns from big brands around the globe. In recent years, however, the variety of mobile media has diminished as novelty mobile apps have come to the fore. The MMA now provides links to video case studies for many campaigns, which is useful, but does not include any descriptions of the campaigns or any notes from the judges explaining why they won. In 2011, the MMA rebranded the awards ‘The Smarties’. While this name might sound catchier, it may cause some confusion, not least as Smarties is not an acronym for the awards.
• 2012 Winners include: Coca-Cola (Movement London), OMO (Brantone), Samsung (Affle), Chevy (GSP and Detroit Labs), O2 (Cherry London), Nelson Mandela Foundation (Prezence Digital), Hennessy (one50one), Land Rover (Wunderman), Mercedes-Benz (Jung von Matt), Nike (R/GA), Intel (Ansible and OMD), J&J (JWT) Google (R/GA), BOS (COW Africa), Infiniti Canada (Olive Media) .
• Full details of 2012 winners, with 15 excellent video case studies.
• Full details of 2011 winners, with 16 excellent video case studies.
• Full details of 2010 winners, with 22 excellent video case studies.

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The Meffy Awards (Meffys)

• Organized by: Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF).
• Founded: 2004.
• Deadline for entries: July, each year.
• Entry fee: UK £350 (US $575) per submission; £150 ($247) for MEF members.
• Winners announced: September, each year, at the Meffys Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner.
• Prizes: Meffy Award trophy.
• Entry categories (2012): social & entertainment; life tools; m-commerce; discovery & engagement; content service; brand on mobile; publisher on mobile; consumer trust; social responsibility and development; innovation award for… app; technology.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Meffys has been running for eight years, making it one of the more established mobile award ceremonies. But the Meffys lets itself - and the winners - down by simply listing the winning campaigns. There are no links, no description of the entry, no case studies or videos (even when available) and no indication of what the judges liked about any of them.
• 2012 Winners include: Sims Freeplay (EA); ABRSM Aural Trainer; Barclays Pingit; Yala Music; Al Jazeera Sport Mobile Apps (Perform); biNu; Just Dance 3 (CP&B); Lookout Mobile Security; Afroes Moraba; Citibank Tablet App; Calltrunk; GetJar Gold Virtual Currency.
• Full details of 2012 winners, with 12 excellent video case studies and demos.

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Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

• Founded: 1954.
• Deadline for entries: March each year.
• Entry fee (for Mobile Lions): €399 (US $528.65) for international entries €478.80 (US $634.37) for UK entries
• Winners announced: June each year.
• Prize: (much coveted) Lion trophy.
• mobiThinking verdict: A Lion trophy brings a lot of kudos for the winners; and great publicity for all entrants. mobiThinking has been campaigning for years for a Mobile Lions category at Cannes, so it’s good to see it attract a whopping 965 entries in the inaugural year. The quality and variety of winners is pretty impressive. The excellent thing about Cannes is that each winner has a detailed description so we can all learn from the campaigns. Most entrants prepare an enlightening video case study (many of which we have tracked down). The 2012 mobile categories were carefully crafted to help to avoid the tsunami of branded novelty apps which monopolize most mobile awards. However the Cannes’ heritage is advertising, so creativity tends to be prioritized over effectiveness in the judging criteria, and thus submissions can be a bit vague when it comes to results.
• Disclosure: mobiThinking was one of the advisers to the Cannes organizers as the mobile Lions was set up.
• Categories (in 2012): Creative Use of Technology; Mobile Websites and Web Apps; Mobile Apps; Tablets and other devices; Games; Rich Media Mobile Advertising; Messaging campaigns; Integrated Campaigns led by Mobile; Craft.
• 2012 Grand Prix and Gold winners include: Nike (R/GA); Google (Grow); Hospital for Sick Children (Cundari); Australian Defence Force (George Patterson Y&R); South African Breweries (Ogilvy); Emart (Cheil Worldwide); Red Tomato Pizza, (TBWA); Nokia (YOC, Carat); Toyota (Party Tokyo); Microloan Foundation (DLKW LOWE), Johnson & Johnson (JWT New York); Chevrolet (GS&P); Bradesco Seguros (AlmapBBDO); The Village (Look At Me)…
• Full details of 2012 Mobile Lions winners and mobile winners across all categories with descriptions and 26 video case studies.
• Full details of 2011 mobile winners with descriptions and 14 videos.
• Full details of 2010 mobile winners with descriptions and eight videos.

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The Webby Awards a.k.a. The Webbys.

• Founded: 1996, mobile category started in 2007.
• Deadline for entries: December each year.
• Entry fee: US $295.
• Winners announced: May each year.
• Prize: Webby Award.
• Categories (in 2012): Device camera; Entertainment; Education & reference; Experimental & innovation; Games; Guides; Integrated mobile experience; Lifestyle; Location; Mobile video; Music; News; Shopping; Social; Sports; Travel; Utilities & services.
• mobiThinking verdict: In the five years mobile has featured at the Webby Awards, it has ballooned to 24 categories, which suggests it attracts plenty of entrants (but we’re not told how many). There’s a Webby Award winner – chosen by the judges – and a People's Voice Winner – where the general public and/or friends of the entrants can vote for their choice (shortlisted companies only) for each category. That means there are 48 mobile awards up for grabs, so there’s more chance of winning, but does this dilute the kudos of a Webby Award? If you were expecting best practice mobile Websites at the Webbys, you will be disappointed. Despite the name and heritage, the mobile categories at the Webby Awards have been overrun by native apps. Nonetheless there are plenty of big brands among the winners. There are international entries, but US companies dominate. Often similar names appear in successive years. Each winner and nominee has a link, some link to case studies and videos, which is excellent, but many more go direct to Apple’s iTunes Store – this might make the Webby Awards a great option for entrants who need downloads, but not so good for those wishing to pick up best-practice tips from the winners.
• 2012 mobile winners include: Paramount Pictures (QMX); Skype; Google (Fantasy Interactive); TED; Hulu; DK (AKQA); National Geographic; The Onion; Google Wallet (R/GA); SwiftKey; Heineken (AKQA); Yelp Mobile; SHO; Sony (LBi); Reactive; Conde Nast; Spotify; Pandora; Flipboard; NPR; Bloomberg Businessweek+; The Daily; Target; Fab.com; Nike (AKQA); ESPN; Mobiata; KAYAK; Evernote; Shutterstock.
• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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Making it Mobile (MiM) Award

• Founded: 2011
• Organized by: Business Leaders Network (BLN) – United Kingdom.
• Deadline for entries: November 16, 2012.
• Winner announced: November 28, 2012 at the BLN Making it Mobile Forum, London, UK.
• Entry fee: Free.
• mobiThinking verdict: This competition is free and ridiculously easy to enter. Fill out your details and explain in 100 words “How does your product solve your customer's problems? What is its commercial potential?” But it is only for privately-held companies that are making money from mobile. In 2012 it attracted 59 entrants, which is pretty good for an awards newcomer. From these, 12 were selected to present their product or service during the Money in Mobile Forum (London, March 22, 2012) in front of the conference audience – packed with potential investors, partners and customers – making this an attractive format. The winner is announced at the end of the forum.
• Competition judges include: Unilever; IQ Capital Partners; Starbucks; Uber; FT.com; NHS Direct; mobiThinking; OgilvyAction; Future Publishing; Fidelity Growth Partners; Heroes of the Mobile Fringe; Tesco.com; The BLN; Telefonica; Accel Partners; Edelman; Twilio; CEO EMEA, Joule; Wired; MMC Ventures; UBS; Incisive Media.
• 2012 Winner (announced March 22, 2012): Blippar.
• 2012 Finalists: Aurasma; Bankin’; Cella Energy; Cogenta; Fonleap; Hailo; Mobile Future Group; Nobex Technologies; On Device Research; SwiftKey; Touchnote.
• Full details of 2012 mobile winners with descriptions and videos.

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Mobi Awards

• Founded: 2009
• Organized by: DIGIDAY
• Deadline for entries: July 30, 2012.
• Early-bird deadline: June, each year.
• Entry fee: (in 2011) US $195 for early-bird submission, thereafter US $295.
• Winners announced: September, at the Mobi Awards Gala.
• Categories in 2011: Best mobile… branding campaign; location-based campaign; direct response campaign; promotion for a product launch; tablet advertising campaign; creative. Best integrated… mobile/social campaign; mobile/cross media campaign. Best mobile app for… editorial content; branded content; advertising/marketing; social media; ecommerce/retail; push notifications; UGC content; OCR, imaging, camera; location. Best…. branded mobile game; mobile video; mobile website; location-based mobile website; mobile platform innovation; mobile ad network; mobile agency.
• mobiThinking verdict: The Mobi Awards attracts a good caliber of participant. In common with many mobile awards, entries tend to be dominated by smartphone apps, often only for the iPhone/iPad platform.
There’s an in-depth report on each of the winners and finalists – as good as those provided at Cannes – but these are only available for a limited time to non-subscribers. All awards should provide details of each campaign – not only do such reports provide excellent publicity for the winners/finalists, and help educate the rest of us to the DNA of an award-winning campaign, but also adds to the authenticity of the competition – i.e. you can judge for yourself if they are worthy winners.
• 2011 Award winners include: Volvo (Mobext), GOL Airlines (Grupo.Mobi), Bravo, Expendables (Initiative), White Collar (Glow Interactive), Bing (Point Reach), National Geographic, HBO Go (Huge), Fandago (Trilibis), Mobext, PHD, InMobi, Target (Ubermind), Intel, Purina (Triad), Expedia TV.com (CBS Interactive)
• Full details of 2011 Mobi Awards winners with descriptions and 12 videos.

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• Be the first to know when mobiThinking adds new stats, guides, competitions etc… follow mobiThinking on Twitter: @mobithinking or via the RSS feed.

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Don’t miss:

• Websites must be mobile-friendly to comply with FTC’s new digital advertising guidelines
• The insiders' guides to world’s greatest mobile markets • New country guide: Sweden
• Mobile/smartphone sales 2012: the big picture
• Guide to mobile ad networks • Latest ad network profiles: Hands; • Twinpine •
• Guide to mobile agencies • Latest agency profiles: Pontomobi • The Hyperfactory •
• Guide to mobile industry awards • Check out the video case studies: Emmas • WSA Mobile •
• Mobile events 2013 • best conferences, great discounts and free tickets •
• The big compendium of global mobile stats
• Most popular content on mobiThinking in 2012

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