Rules & Regulations

Create an awards program organized, judged and awarded by Hispanic advertising creatives. Raise the bar and create a more inspirational award. Make it a contender with international shows and therefore, give our market the respect it deserves in the Ad industry overall.

The 2013 U.S.H. Idea Awards will take place Tuesday, April 30th in Miami in conjunction with AHAA 2013 Annual Conference.

IMPORTANT -- ALL ENTRY FEES MUST BE PAID AT THE TIME OF SUBMISSION OR THEY WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.

The following payment options are accepted: PayPal, VISA, MasterCard and AMEX.

No refunds will be made under any circumstances. Disqualified entries will not be refunded. So, please, double check all your entries before finalizing.

The 2013 U.S.H. Idea Awards will accept entries up to its final deadline of April 1, 2013 for receiving complete entries (including payment), or with an extension (late fee applies) until April 18, 2013 at 11:00 pm EST.

ALL ENTRY FORMS AND CREATIVE MATERIALS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED ONLINE VIA OMNICONTEST, WHICH REQUIRES PAYMENT AT THE TIME OF ENTRY SUBMISSION. NO FORMS OR MATERIAL WILL BE ACCEPTED OFFLINE.

Entries received between the April 2, 2013 through April 18, 2013, will pay a fee of $500 per full campaign in any media and $350 per individual piece in any media. This is the regular fee plus a $50 late charge. 

For more information, please email: producer@circulocreativo.org

The awards are open to companies based in the U.S. working for Hispanic market and beyond. Participants should belong to, or be one of the following: Advertising Agencies, Creative Directors, Production Companies, Film Directors, Brands, Media Agencies, Marketing Agencies, Creative Studios, Design Studios, Interactive Agencies, Mobile Agencies, Promotion Agencies, Direct Marketing agencies, Postproduction Companies, Animation Studios, Designers, Sound and Image Production Companies, Composers, Multimedia Studios, Development Agencies, Content Producers, Collaborative Production Houses, Audio/ Music Houses, Communication Agencies, Press Agencies, PR Agencies, etc. Entrants must be U.S. based companies or individuals.

To be eligible for the 2013 competition, entries must have been published or aired, between March 31, 2012 and March 31, 2013 within the U.S.-Hispanic Market (except for Beyond Hispanic category). Work should have been created by a U.S. Hispanic agency or a General market agency specifically targeting Hispanics. Work submitted includes any Spanish Language work aired or published in the continental United States (except in the Beyond Hispanic category) and any English language work targeted specifically and uniquely to the Hispanic market.

The owner of the material's rights must know and approve of the entry. All winners must show proof of media buys if requested.

So-called "scam ads" - ads that either never ran, ran without the consent of the client, or were ripped off from other agencies – will be closely monitored, disqualified and publicly denounced. U.S.H. Idea Awards strongly discourages the submission of any scam ads of any sort. Judges and the U.S.H. Idea Awards organization will privately "flag" a suspected scam ad when viewing an entry online and/or write confidential comments online to support their suspicions. Upon being flagged, an investigation into the allegations will follow.

U.S.H. Idea Awards has the right to disqualify any and all entries that do not follow these, or any other requirements of these rules and regulations document at any point during the process, without any sort of refund to the parties who submitted the entry or any other related party.

U.S.H. Idea Awards may refuse entries, which offend national or religious sentiments or public taste.

U.S.H. Idea Awards may contact the 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.

No agency branding or any contributing creative companies/people must be visible on the entry (e.g. logos, credits etc.) except for self-promotional entries. This is to ensure the Jury remains neutral when judging. Please ensure you do not include the clock, slate or any form of credit in your material. This information should ONLY be found on the entry forms.

Entries and materials submitted will not be returned and may be displayed, shown, duplicated, published or reproduced for educational or promotional purposes as U.S.H. Idea Awards deems appropriate, on any and all media. By entering, the entrant agrees to hold U.S.H. Idea Awards and any of its affiliated companies exempt from any costs or expenses of any claim arising out of any such use.

You may enter the same ad or campaign in more than one category. An additional entry fee applies for each additional category entered for the same piece.

All entries, including campaigns, will automatically compete for the top 5 ideas of the year awards aside from competing for the best of the year in the category in which they were submitted. The jury reserves the right to judge an individual piece in a campaign as a stand-alone piece.

The top 5 ideas of the year will be awarded from all the material submitted regardless the categories they belong to.

Awards will also be handed to the top creative idea on each of the 77 categories listed below in section 8.

The Jury has the right to declare a category vacant of award in the event that they consider none of the submissions deserve to be awarded in said category.

The jury will be comprised of the president of the Latin Market Circulo Creativo and former presidents along with international creative personalities, outside the Hispanic Market, one of which will be the president of the Jury. No more than one representative from an agency will be part of the jury. This will assure the jury's impartiality and diversity.

All of the Jury will vote on all categories plus the year's Top 5 ideas. Voting will be done entirely online through the online entry system, OmniContest.

A brief synopsis is required for all entries. The synopsis should be broken down into three parts (1 or 2 sentences each): Objective, Concept and Target Audience. The synopsis should be no longer than 200 words. If you are submitting a campaign, that should be clear in your synopsis as well. Results, Research, Planning and a clear demonstration on how the viewer was able to interact with the medium, should be included when applicable.

FILM (TV Commercials)
1 - F 1 - Food, sweet foods & snacks, savory foods.
2 - F 2 - Alcoholic beverages and tobacco and cigarette.
3 - F 3 - Non-alcoholic beverages.
4 - F 4 - Household cleaning products, home, health & pets & appliances. Cosmetic & beauty. Toiletries. Pharmacy and medical products.
5 - F 5 - Electronics, audio-visual, computers and communications.
6 - F 6 - Cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles. Accessories and auto-products.
7 - F 7 - Clothing, footwear and accessories. Textiles and jewelry. Retail stores.
8 - F 8 - Financial services, banking, insurance.
9 - F 9- Public and private service. (Public and private for-profit service companies. Public awareness messages. Government, political and religious messages. Public service)
10 - F 10 - Corporate and institutional image. Sponsorships and endorsements.
11 - F 11 - Public outlets, restaurants, stores and supermarkets.
12 - F 12 - Publications and media.
13 - F 13 - Entertainment, travel, tourism and events.
14 - F 14 - Best low budget film.
15 - F 15 - Best Film Campaign.

RADIO
16 - R 1 - Food, sweet foods & snacks, savory foods.
17 - R 2 - Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
18 - R 3 - Household cleaning products, home, health & pets & appliances. Cosmetic & beauty. Toiletries.
19 - R 4 - Electronic appliances, communications, audio, video, computers.
20 - R 5 - Clothing, footwear, fashion and accessories. Textiles and jewelry.
21 - R 6 - Cars, trucks, motorcycles. Accessories and products.
22 - R 7 - Financial services, private and public insurance for-profit companies, insurance, banking.
23 - R 8 - Public outlets and stores.
24 - R 9 - Publications and media.
25 - R 10 - Entertainment, travel, tourism and events.
26 - R 11 - Public awareness. Government, political and religious messages.
27 - R 12 - Corporate and institutional image. Sponsorships and endorsements
28 - R 13 - Best Radio Campaign.

GRAPHIC MEDIA (Print and OOH)
29 - GM 1 - Food, sweet foods & snacks, savory foods.
30 - GM 2 - Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
31 - GM 3 - Household cleaning products, home, health & pets & appliances. Cosmetic & beauty. Toiletries.
32 - GM 4 - Electronic appliances, communications, audio, video, computers.
33 - GM 5 - Clothing, footwear, fashion and accessories. Textiles and jewelry.
34 - GM 6 - Cars, trucks, motorcycles. Accessories and products.
35 - GM 7 - Financial services, private and public insurance for-profit companies, insurance, banking.
36 - GM 8 - Public outlets, stores and supermarkets.
37 - GM 9 - Publications and media.
38 - GM 10 - Entertainment, travel, tourism and events.
39 - GM 11 - Public awareness. Government, political and religious messages.
40 - GM 12 - Corporate and institutional image. Sponsorships and endorsements.
41 - GM 13 - Live advertising (experiencial marketing, PR stunts, etc.)
42 - GM 14 - Best Graphic Media Campaign.

DIGITAL
43 - D 1- Banners (fix space and rich media/dynamic).
44 - D 2 - Hot sites/web pages.
45- D 3 - Branded games. 
46 - D 4 - Social Media.
47- D 5 - Mobile. 
48 - D 6 - Film online.
49 - D 7 - Interactive campaigns.
50 - D 8 - Interactive tools (apps and widgets).
51 - D 9 - Other digital channels (other digital advertising that doesn't fit in any of the categories above).
52 - D 10 - Viral (all entries in this category must include as much information about the result and effectiveness as possible; ideally with number of views/hits/forwards/spread/users/etc.).
53 - D 11 - Branded content internet film.

INNOVATION
54 - INN1- In film
55 - INN 2 - In audio media 
56 - INN 3 - In Graphic media 
57 - INN 4 – In online media, cellphones

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
58 - PT 1 - Best Music and/or sound design in any media.
59 - PT 2 - Best production on film and graphic media (Direction, edition, photography and art direction).
60 - PT 3 - Best In online, mobile phones and mobile media production.

DIRECT MARKETING, PROMO AND ACTIVATION
61 - DM 1 - Mailing (flat and dimensional mailing).
62 - DM 2 - Email marketing.
63 - DM 3 - Ambient media large scale (non traditional media, direct response stunt, street teams, direct response events, outdoor/ambient media and other mediums which encourage direct interaction and seek to gain a measurable response).
64 - DM 4 - Small scale (non mail and print collateral, e.g. bar and restaurant glasses, beer mats and ashtrays, petrol pumps, flyers, stickers, signage, door-hangers, inserts, etc.).
65 - DM 5 - Best campaign (promo and direct).

DESIGN
66- D 1 - Logo, corporate identity and application (including stationery, business cards, letterhead, etc.).
67 - D 2 - Books, catalogues, brochures, media kits, annual reports, etc.
68 - D 3 - Packaging and label design.
69 - D 4 - Best work of design.

BEYOND HISPANIC
(Work published outside of continuous U.S., created by U.S Hispanic and/or Puerto Rico based advertising agencies. This category also accepts work created by a Hispanic agency geared toward other markets such as General Market or Latin America.)
70 - BH 1 -Film.
71 - BH 2 - Radio.
72 - BH 3 - Graphic Media.
73 - BH 4 - Digital.
74 - BH 5 - Innovation. 
75 - BH 6 - Direct marketing and promo.
76 - BH 7 - Design.
77 - BH 8 – Best Beyond Hispanic Campaign.

There is no limit to the amount of entries per participant.

During the submission process, you will be required to enter: Your Company Name; the Client, Brand or Sponsor Name; the Title of Entry; and the Names and Titles of the people and or companies associated with the creation of the work that is being entered. It is VERY IMPORTANT to use the proper case, correct hierarchical (ranking) order of the names and the correct spelling. U.S.H. Idea Awards will not be held responsible for typographical errors on awards.

No corrections will be allowed after the April 18, 2013 deadline, so please be thorough when revising all credits because they will be published exactly as entered.

U.S.H. Idea Awards cannot be responsible for credit errors or omissions on entries and, therefore, requests for replacement nameplates on trophies or replacement certificates will be billed at the regular prices plus shipping, handling and duty charges.

Press releases will be sent to Hispanic and international media. All winners will be published on the U.S.H. Idea Awards, Circulo Creativo and AHAA websites.

Trophy winners will be announced during the U.S.H. Idea Awards on April 30, 2013 in Miami. If you are planning to attend the awards ceremony you must purchase a ticket. Visit www.ahaa.org for more information and to purchase tickets for the awards ceremony.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you log in before beginning the online entry process to prevent loss of your data. You will know you are logged in when you can see your name at the top of the left window. It will say LOGGED IN with your name below.

Once you are logged in, select the competition you wish to enter from the competitions menu and proceed to submit your entry. An individual entry form must be filled out for each single or campaign entry. Be sure to submit all of your entry data before proceeding to checkout. A printable invoice listing all of your entries will be automatically generated at checkout.

We strongly advise that you adhere to the following technical specifications when submitting your entries. In the event that your entry earns an award, it deserves to be exhibited it in its best quality. Any entry that deviates from these specifications will be rejected and a new file required.

Images:
JPG/JPEG, 96 DPI, MAX 10 MB - Recommended resolution: longest side = 2000 DPI (pixels). Images may be projected during the awards ceremony. Projector will be HD which means 1920x1080 pixels. As long as your image is at least this size it will show well on the projection.

Documents:
PDF, MAX 10 MB (embedded images should adhere to guidelines above)

Audio: MP3, 320kbps recommended, MAX 30 MB

Video: MPG, H.264 MAX. 5000kbps, MAX. 100 MB

U.S.H. Idea Awards is not responsible for the quality of the submitted material. Entries submitted will be showcased in the quality they were received.

All copies of entries submitted become the property of U.S.H. Idea Awards, for supplemental presentations to educational institutions, trade groups, advertising professionals and to the public and will not be returned.

Entrant specifically grants worldwide, royalty-free permission to U.S.H. Idea Awards to play or exhibit the entries at award presentations, screenings around the world or in any other public or private presentation with or without charge whenever and as often as U.S.H. Idea Awards see fit without any compensation to entrant.

Entrant authorizes U.S.H. Idea Awards the use for such purpose of any trademarks, animated characters, animals, and merchandised items included in the entries. U.S.H. Idea Awards may use entries or license entries or the reproduction of entries in perpetuity, without payment to Entrant or Entrants clients, non- exclusively throughout the world, for use in telecasts, broadcasts, videotapes, Internet, DVDs, exhibits, annuals and any other publications including without limitation, television, radio or Internet presentations featuring the U.S.H. Idea Awards winners.

Entrant holds or will secure the necessary license for use of all music embodied within the entries. Entrant will fully defend, indemnify and hold U.S.H. Idea Awards and its assignees harmless from any talent or other residual charges due to the release of its entries or any third party claims against U.S.H. Idea Awards, its affiliated companies and licensees resulting from the content of the entries and the intellectual property contained therein. The person submitting entry or entries certifies that he or she has full authority to approve the rights granted herein.

U.S.H. Idea Awards has no responsibility and remains harmless from any problems arising from or to participants because of: force majeure, wrong entries, form mistakes, uploading errors, credit errors, third party actions or any other responsibility derived from any of the participant's actions involving U.S.H. Idea Awards.

© U.S.H. Idea Awards 2013