The Spotlight on Excellence Awards Judge Nomination Form is intended for people to nominate judges for the 2026-2027 Spotlight on Excellence Awards cycle. Judges consist of faculty from accredited schools of journalism as well as practicing communications, marketing and graphic design professionals. The judges remain anonymous.  

When nominating a judge, please consider the 5 Spotlight categories for the 2026-2027 cycle:  

1. Excellence in Content & Storytelling (All Written Work and Publications)
2. Excellence in Digital & Social Communications (Web, Social Media and Innovative Digital Use)
3. Excellence in Visual & Multimedia (Video, Photography, Design and Advertising)
4. Wildcard (Work that does not fit into other categories, such as crisis comms, member engagement initiatives, etc.)
5. Best Strategic Communications Campaign and Edgar F. Chesnutt Award (an internal or external initiative that features either a short- or long-term, multi-channel communications campaign designed to inform, educate, persuade or promote an action (e.g., public relations campaign, program rollout, etc.) through specific objectives, budget and results)