The awards are judged by an accomplished panel of experts and industry leaders.
The judging is a rigorous two-stage process including pre-scoring to determine shortlists and a judging meeting where entries are discussed and evaluated in detail to decide the winning entries. You can find out more about the judging process here.
In the interests of transparency, we may give entrants an insight into why a winning entry was chosen.
Become a Judge Previous Judges
Judges
Lukas Adamec | Performance Marketing Manager | DACH at Zendesk
Lukas Adamec has been working within Paid Digital for 11+ years, during which he transitioned from an employee to a freelancer & CEO of Abadam Marketing. In the last 5 years Lukas has focused on Consultancy - working with established agencies to deliver client growth. His focus is particularly on international paid opportunities, from Google to Yandex, from Naver to Baidu, from Yahoo JP to Seznam. Lukas is a firm believer in knowledge sharing and enjoys discussing experiences with established online marketers as well as providing training to new colleagues. During his time off, Lukas recharges his energy by being disconnected from online influences and instead spends his time on wildlife photography.
Jim Banks | CEO | Spades Media | @UKSPADESMEDIA
Jim is one of the original paid media experts, buying his first paid traffic back in 1999. Since then he has worked with over 1000 companies around the world and spent in excess of £250 million on traffic, generating in excess of £1 billion in ecommerce sales and more than 2 million leads for inbound marketing companies. Jim is a well-travelled and sought after keynote speaker.
Damilola Chambon-Erinle | Business & Diversity Consultant | Bethel Sarova
Damilola Chambon is an experienced, multilingual senior executive, board advisor and business leader with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing, driving growth in some of the fastest growing companies in the world. Having spent a number of years in the agency world, Dami is a strong believer in creativity and performance safe in the knowledge that in order to do this, understanding, valuing and encouraging the right culture is key. As well as being a coach and mentor within organisations focused on encouraging young people in technology, Dami is active spokesperson consultant on diversity within the U.K.
Richard Dawson | Digital Marketing Coach | Cheshire Digital Marketing
Richard has over 20 years of experience and has helped more than 30 SME Business Owners successfully grow their business to the NEXT LEVEL using the latest digital marketing best practice. His clients tell him, that as well as helping them to successfully grow their business, he give them lots of great advice, helped them focus, help them keep an eye on the bigger picture and not get distracted! He writes about Politics and Digital Campaigning.
Rebekah Deedat | Digital Marketing Manager | Michael Kors
Rebekah has over 9 years experience in digital marketing. Over the course of her career, she has worked for 3 of the worlds largest marketing agencies across brands including Adidas, Calvin Klien and American Airlines. For the first time, Rebekah is now in-house leading digital performance marketing for Michael Kors, using her breadth of cross-channel and ecommerce experience to accelerate the strategy for EMEA and ROW sites. With a specialism in Paid Search Rebekah now manages SEO, Affiliate, Paid Social and Display channels. She has a passion for attribution, testing and data visualisation to understand what is truly contributing towards business success.
Ellie England | Commercial Director | Microsoft
As a Commercial Director for Microsoft Advertising, for the past 7 years. Ellie has been spearheading the continued investment in the North of the UK and beyond, leading a growing team of talented media sales consultants and juggling life as a proud mother of two children, 5 and 3.
Veronika Höller | Global SEO Manager | CompuGroup Medica
Veronika is a Global Senior SEO-Manager and has worked in SEO and PPC marketing for over 14 years. She started as a copywriter and PPC Manager in a little Ads Agency. She has continuously developed herself further into the direction of SEO. Over the years, she has worked as a digital marketing manager in agencies and international companies, including CompuGroup where she is now. International SEO and PPC Strategies are Top of her priority list. She views SEO as a whole puzzle and not just individual sub-areas, hence why she trained herself in all areas – content, technology, PPC, SMM and UX. Today she spreads her knowledge as a speaker on the stages of international digital marketing conferences such as BrightonSEO, SMX advanced, International Search Summit etc. For her all digital marketing channels have to be united to get the best of your website.
Chris Ioannou | SEO Consultant
Chris is a seasoned SEO professional with over a decade of experience in the industry. He currently runs a small consultancy that helps businesses of all sizes improve their online visibility through technical SEO, content marketing, outreach, and reputation management. Chris is passionate about helping businesses succeed online, and he has a proven track record of delivering results. He has worked with a wide range of clients, including small businesses, startups, and large enterprises. Helping clients achieve significant increases in organic search traffic, improve their website rankings, and generate more leads and sales. As well as being proficient in content marketing strategies, Chris is highly technical and is a specialist technical SEO utlising R and RStudio to implement automations that improve his client delivery. In his spare time, Chris enjoys spending time with his family and following the financial markets using technical analysis as a hobbyist speculator.
Steve Kuncewicz | Partner and Head Of Creative, Digital & Marketing | Glaisyers ETL
Steve is a Partner and Head of Creative, Digital and Marketing at Glaisyers ETL in Manchester. He specialises in intellectual property, media social media and privacy law and is listed as a "recommended lawyer" in the Legal 500, and was a co-founder pf the Bulletproof Agency Network. He is a regular media spokesperson, and has given interviews to the local and national press through BBC Breakfast, Sky News, ITV, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and LBC London. Steve is also the Manchester Publicity Association’s Honorary Solicitor.
Vânia Marques | PPC Manager | Minty Lab - Minty Square
With an unusual path, my career in digital marketing began in 2018, 2 years after completing my Degree in Philosophy. After a course in digital marketing with an internship, I ended up working at the agency where I interned. With 5 years of experience and dozens of clients, I worked as a PPC manager and content manager. 3 years on I decided to focus exclusively on paid campaigns. Throughout this time I developed experience in lead gen in the B2B market and later in brand development, traffic increase, and purchase generation in the B2C market. I am currently responsible for the PPC department at MintySquare, where I develop marketing strategies for several fashion brands and campaigns that aim to increase brand awareness and generate purchases.
Elaine Miller | Global Operations Manager | Tribe Global
Elaine is the Global Operations Manager at Tribe Global, a leading network of award-winning communications agencies in more than 100 cities around the world. Elaine has been supporting the growth of the network and championing independent agencies and businesses for more than five years. In her current role she enjoys managing the TribeOpen global event series and has welcomed speakers including Dolce & Gabbana, TikTok, Dyson, the former Head of the Spanish Secret Service and many more to Tribe events.
Mazen Mroueh | HEAD OF DIGITAL & PARTNERSHIPS | ADVISOR
Mazen has been in many leaderships and Senior roles, currently he is the head of Digital & Partnerships at Digicrowns and Advisor at Techcombank, based between the Netherlands and Vietnam. Leading a Big team of experts based in Europe and his responsibilities cover MKT/Media, Martech, CRM, Affiliate, Website/SEO, Digital transformation, and innovation. Mazen overseed Global Digital media strategies, media pitches, digital transformation, and design of the technology ecosystem following the JBP with key suppliers such as Facebook, Google, & Tik-Tok. Next to that, Mazen is an Ambassador and Advisor for many Web 3.0 projects (Fitness, gaming, and others) Before moving to the Netherlands, Mazen worked at the agency side for 6+ years based in Dubai, Singapore, and Beirut. His diverse portfolio covers prominent multinationals such as BlackBerry, Samsung, Emirates, Etihad airlines, and all the Richemont Luxury brands. Mazen won many prestigious digital awards targeting the MENA region and is looking to score more worldwide. Mazen is a big believer in training both the body and the mind to be strong. So next to his professional achievements, he is a world marathoner and Guinness World Record holder, with more than 77 full marathons completed and many ultras.
Xavier Naudeau | SEO Consultant
Xavier is a digital data-driven consultant who thrives on understanding consumers' behaviour to optimize their Search Journey through Digital. After ten years of combined experience between SEO, Web Analytics and Data, he now works within Business Intelligence at Philip Morris International to provide critical insights on consumer performance for smoke-free future campaigns.
Plamen Polov | Head of Global SEO | Acronis Global
Plamen Popov is an experienced digital marketer & SEO Expert with history of working for internationally renowned brands. He currently is working as Senior SEO Lead in Acronis, world leader in cyber protection & data security company. Plamen joined last year from the marketing team of Management Financial Group, where he lead global marketing strategies for various fin-tech brands inside the holding. Plamen has a genuine interest in marketing and technology and that drives his experience through out consulting start up companies and leading teams in enterprise brands exploring various aspects of marketing activities including PPC, Social Media, Display, Programmatic, App Marketing and SEO. His passion for Search Marketing & SEO always drives him to learn and explore new possibilities of creating better user experiences and results.
Steph Rosevear | Marketing Consultant
Steph has worked in marketing across the publishing, education and not-for-profit sectors for 10+ years, and has a passion for inclusivity and accessibility in marketing campaigns. She began her career as a radio host and producer, before pivoting to marketing roles with philanthropy at their heart. Having worked for large national charity programmes, as well as global education institutions and healthcare organisations, her expertise lies in audience engagement and bringing a human story to campaigns.
Jane Sell | Head of Corporate Comms, PR & Social Media | B&Q
Jane’s has predominantly focused on delivering PR and content campaigns, to both promote and protect the reputation of retail and FMCG brands, including B&Q, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Bluewater, and Diageo. Having joined B&Q from agency ten years ago, Jane leads on a breadth of PR and social media campaigns such as B&Q Gardener of the Year, as well as Corp Comms and crisis and change management. Before joining B&Q, for 7 years Jane was Operations Director at Kavanagh PR – retail specialist Consumer PR agency - and earlier was Corporate & Public Affairs Manager at J Sainsbury plc. She started her career in Whitehall, including three years in a Ministerial Private Office role in Parliament.
Heana Thakur | Head of Performance Marketing | Matches Fashion
After a brief stint in creative marketing, Heana began her digital career in 2015 working for one of largest digital marketing agencies Merkle. She started as an exec fresh out of university working her way to director level. In this time, she worked on a variety of clients and outside of her day-to-day role, she was also involved in the recruitment of the paid search team, working on commercial pitches and being a part of the Diversity & Leadership committee for 4 years. In November 2021, Heana switched from agency side to client side taking up a role at Sainsbury's Argos as Head of Paid Search and most recently switching to luxury fashion as Head of Performance Marketing for Matches Fashion looking after paid search, paid social, display and affiliate marketing.
Brian Thornton | Performance and Digital Marketing Leader
With a career spanning nearly 15 years, Brian has a deep understanding of marketing dynamics, having worked on both the agency and brand sides. This unique perspective allows him to craft comprehensive strategies that align with business' specific goals and objectives. Brian's versatility shines through his experience across various industry verticals. He has successfully executed marketing campaigns for companies ranging from startups to global enterprises, harnessing his analytical prowess to deliver exceptional results.
Gellan Watt | Global Brand + Creative Consultant | Gellan Watt - Brand + Agency Transformation
Gellan Watt is an agency entrepreneur and NED. He founded an agency that went on to become a Top Ten Agency and UK Agency of the Year. He and his partners successfully exited their Group business at c. £60m revenue. An award-winning Creative and Strategist, today he invests in and works with a select group of brands direct, and with independent agencies direct, focusing on high growth value creation and doing great work.
Luan Wise | Independent Social Media Consultant and Editor | The Lighthouse
Luan Wise is a chartered marketer and fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) with more than 20 years’ experience in agency, client-side and consultancy roles. She has worked with clients across B2C and B2B, providing both hands-on support and strategic consultancy. In addition, Luan writes and delivers social media marketing training programmes for in-house teams, plus organisations including LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, professional bodies, and university business schools.