SMARTIES South Africa - Eligibility & Fees

Eligibility

South Africa Awards Programme – Campaigns submitted should be be originated in and / or run within the Sub Sahara African Region between 1 January 2025 – 28 February 2026.

Your work must have made an impact during the eligibility period and the results you provide must be within this time frame. Elements of the work may have been introduced earlier and may have continued after, but your case must be based on data relative to the qualifying time. Judges will evaluate success achieved during the eligibility time period.

Re-Entering Past Winning Work

If your work continued running in this year’s eligibility period and you have results from this eligibility period, you may re-enter the past winning work.

Additional Eligibility Requirements

• The competition is open to marketers and agencies globally including, but not limited to, those involved in advertising, media, PR, design and the creative industries.
• It is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that the client has the rights to use the intellectual property of the brand advertised/promoted. Entries cannot be made without the prior permission of the client/owner of the rights of the case. At our request, you shall immediately provide us with a copy of such permission.
• Entries cannot be cancelled or removed from the competition after April 3, 2026.
• In the event that additional information regarding results and the outcome of the campaign becomes available after you have submitted your entry, we will accept updated and additional information relating to the results section only up April 3, 2026.
• In the event that a campaign runs over an extended period of time (with multiple implementation dates), it is the responsibility of the entrant to provide adequate proof of the campaign’s evolution from year to year.
• Only one party may enter an entry, i.e. either the agency or client may enter a piece that both parties have worked on, but not both.
• The Smarties staff may contact the agency/client related to any entry at the request of the jury at any time during the voting process should any questions about the implementation or presentation of the work arise.
• All entry forms must be completed online and in English.
• Entries will not be considered completed until full payment has been made.
• Payments for entries under USD 1,500 must be made online via credit card on the SMARTIES dashboard.
• Invoices will only be raised for totals greater than USD 1,500.
• Entry fees will be based on the date the final entries are submitted. Example, if early bird is May 10, payment must be received latest May 10. After May 10, the on-time fee will apply.
• Invoices will only be issued when all the invoiced submissions are FINAL. The fee will reflect the date of the invoice request.

SMARTIES Authenticity Policy

SMARTIES, presented by the Marketing + Media Alliance (MMA), awards best marketing results and business impact grounded in real, executed work.

This policy protects the integrity of the awards program by prohibiting the submission of false, fabricated, staged, or “ghost” campaigns — entries created or altered solely to win an award rather than to serve a business or marketing objective.

MMA reserves the right to request verification for any entry and to disqualify submissions that cannot be substantiated.

Policy Statement

Every campaign submitted to SMARTIES must be a real marketing campaign:

It must have been planned, executed, and brought to market for an actual brand, product, service, or cause, with genuine audience reach, media placement, and business results.

Submissions may not be invented, simulated, or built retroactively for the sole purpose of award entry.

Entries found to be false, fabricated, or ghost campaigns will be disqualified, forfeited if already awarded, and may result in the entrant’s exclusion from future SMARTIES cycles.

Eligibility to enter:

• Verifiable execution — the campaign ran in market during the eligible period, with dates, channels, and placements that can be substantiated.
• Real client or brand relationship — the submitting agency or team had an actual, documented mandate to produce the work.
• Authentic results — performance data and outcomes reflect genuine campaign delivery, not projected, simulated, or fabricated metrics.
• Supporting evidence on request — entrants must be able to provide media schedules, invoices, client confirmation, or platform reporting if requested by MMA.