Marketing Network initiated the Marketing Student of the Year Award programme in 1999 to identify and reward promising young Marketing talent. With more than 100 applicants in the last year alone, the programme has become an unmitigated success as we’ve seen many of our past winners go on to become leading professionals in their field.
Benefits
For students, the programme provides an opportunity to present their ideas to senior marketing leaders in Ireland. In addition, the winning entry is awarded a 3-month paid work experience at Marketing Network.
For Marketing Network and the industry, the programme provides an opportunity to hear fresh ideas from future marketing leaders and identify young talent.
How to Enter
The competition is open to any final year undergrad or postgrad student or teams of students studying full time, part time or through distance learning. Please note in the event of team / group submissions that only one student will be offered the work placement as the overall prize. Entrants must submit a 2,000-word paper on an entrepreneurial idea — creating a business or marketable product, the formulation of the idea and how the student(s) would bring that idea to market.
The programme is run annually and the closing date for entries is the end of May. Entries should be sent to info@marketingnetwork.ie or can be posted to Marketing Network, 40 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. Please review the Past Winner Submissions section of our website for further guidance. Finalists will be notified in July and asked to present to a panel of leading marketing experts in September with the winner announced that day at an awards lunch.
The judging criteria are as follows:
To enter, all they need to do is submit a 2,000-word marketing paper outlining an original, entrepreneurial idea. Finalists will then be invited to present in front of a panel of leading marketing experts and will be judged on the following criteria:
- Creativity and Personal Expression: 20 Points
- Strategic Understanding and Market Analysis: 30 Points
- Organisation of Written Presentation: 20 Points
- Live Presentation (for finalists only): 30 Points
The winner will be selected by a panel of leading marketing experts.
2011 Student of the Year Patrick Scott with judges and finalists
Student of the Year Judging Criteria
Creativity and Personal Expression: 20 Points
Unique and innovative entrepreneurial idea
Superior level of creativity
Interesting and engaging content
Expresses a personal point-of-view
Strategic Understanding and Market Analysis: 30 Points
Clear understanding of the market landscape for the idea including:
Customer target profile
Market segments
Customer need
Competitive analysis
Key factors impacting the market
Identification of the marketing opportunity
Organisation of Written Presentation: 20 Points
Well thought-out and supports the stated objectives
Excellent flow, clarity and to the point
Has high professional appeal
Free of grammatical and typographical errors
Within the guidelines for the competition
Live Presentation (for finalists only): 30 Points
Organisation (flow, clarity, to the point)
Professionalism
Style
Enthusiasm – salesmanship
Effectiveness of visuals and visual aids
Within guidelines (20 minute presentation; 10 minute question and answer from judges)
Judging stages:
1) Preliminaries: All entrants will be reviewed on the first three judging criteria: a. organization of written presentation b. creativity and personal expression c. strategic understanding and market analysis by the Marketing Network management team.
2) Semi-Finals: From the initial entrants, the Marketing Network management team will select 15 semi-finalists. Semi-finalist submissions will be reviewed by an independent panel of senior marketeers from which a maximum of five will be selected to present to our “Student of the Year” judging panel. Semi-finalists will receive a certificate of recognition.
3) Finals: The final entrants will be given 20 minutes to present their submission in September. The presentation will be made to panel of marketing industry leaders (typically 4-5 judges) and is an excellent opportunity for the student to introduce their skills and ideas to a network of high-level professionals in the marketing industry in Ireland. Judges will deliberate on the day of the final presentations and the final award will be presented at an afternoon luncheon.
