TERMS & CONDITIONS

Awards are based on the merits of the work, not on the worthiness of the brand or messaging. That said, Awards presented by Haymarket must not conflict with Haymarket’s core values of Creativity, Expertise, Integrity, Innovation, and Respect, and Haymarket’s commitment to an ethical and sustainable environment.

The Haymarket Awards Entry Terms and Conditions state Haymarket reserves the right to reject any Entry/ies and/or rescind any Award at any time that is inconsistent with Haymarket’s core values, including but not limited to the support of integrity in social and corporate responsibility.

In the award entry process, it is the responsibility of the brand and awards entry teams to flag any entry in the submission process that may be cause for concern based on the nature of the campaign or the parties involved in the entry. For example, Haymarket’s core values do not align with the promotion of tobacco products. We do not endeavour to create an exhaustive list of categories or parties that may exist or may come into existence that is not aligned with such core values. We do, however, encourage the team to keep abreast with the latest news, trends, and tides in our industry, which would inform their consideration and determination of whether certain award submissions fail to align with Haymarket’s core values and require internal review. In such cases, Haymarket may elect not to accept an entry or rescind an award.

DEFINITIONS: In these Terms and Conditions, the following terms have the following meanings:

▪ “Awards” means the particular Awards.
▪ “Awards Entry Page” means the entry webpage where information and Terms and Conditions relevant to the particular Awards can be found.
▪ “Entry/ies” means all material and information submitted for the particular Awards.
▪ “Entry Kit” means the document that details the rules and processes regarding eligibility, judging, and other Entry information relevant to the submissions.
▪ “Entrant” or “You” means any company, individual, or organization that submits an Entry for the relevant Awards.
▪ “Entry Requirement” means the specific submission requirements relevant to the particular Awards.
▪ “Haymarket Media, Inc.” or “Haymarket” or “We” or “Us” means all of its subsidiary brands, group companies, affiliates, and/or representatives.
▪ “Terms and Conditions” means terms and conditions applicable to the Entry/ies and Awards.

By entering the Agency of the Year Awards 2026, Entrants agree to be bound and abide by the Rules. We may vary the Rules from time to time, in which case the variation will take effect from the date of publication of the Rules on our website: www.aoyawards.com. We have absolute discretion to determine the application of the Rules or to resolve any ambiguity in them as we see fit.

Please ensure that each entry complies with the following rules.

Failure to follow the rules may result in your entry being disqualified at an early stage in the judging process.

AWARD TYPE:

For all categories within the Asia-Pacific Region, People, Brand of the Year, and Marketer of the Year categories, we will be awarding only one GOLD Winner. Commendation might be given subject to the judges’ unanimous decision.

Agency categories, AD Campaign of the Year, and AI AD Campaign of the Year will be subject to the judges’ discretion a Gold, Silver, or Bronze may be awarded. The judges will make a unanimous decision on the type of awards to be given in the respective categories, and only one award per award type of Gold, Silver, or Bronze for each category, or no award will be given.

Best Culture and Best Place to Work (individual shop/network) categories will award one GOLD Winner.

In cases where there are three or fewer entries in the category, the judges will unanimously decide whether a Gold, Silver, or Bronze will be given. If there is no award, there will also be no shortlist.

CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS:

If an entrant wishes to withdraw an entry, the entrant must notify the Organiser by email to aoy@haymarket.asia. Any approved refund will incur a processing fee of HKD1,500, which will be automatically deducted from the entry fee before processing the refund.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE:

In the event of a complaint regarding any award-winning or shortlisted entry, the Organiser reserves the right to investigate the complaint at their absolute discretion. If an investigation is initiated, the entrant must fully cooperate by providing any requested information. If the complaint is upheld and it is determined that the winning or shortlisting of an entry was unfair or incorrect, the Organiser may withdraw or disqualify the relevant entry or award.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

Your entry and any supporting documentation will not be considered confidential information unless identified as ‘Confidential.’ If there is certain information in the written entry paper or supporting documents that must be kept confidential, please indicate this clearly by highlighting the specific parts in yellow and marking the check box on the online form. Please do not simply mark the entire entry as “confidential.”

▪ Notwithstanding the foregoing, Confidential Information does not include information that is public-facing or generally known to the public at the time of disclosure or becomes generally known through no wrongful act on the part of Haymarket.
▪ The Organiser reserves the right to publish details of the entries in any related publications and materials.
▪ Entrants understand and agree that Haymarket may be required to disclose confidential information included in the entry to comply with applicable laws or governmental regulations or a valid order issued by a court or government agency of competent jurisdiction.

CREDITS:

All details in the credits section must be accurate and consistent across the Online Entry Form, Written Submission, and Endorsement Letter. These credits will be used for judging, awards presentations, trophies, and all awards-related material. In case there are any discrepancies, the online form will be treated as the final version.

Credits for the Agency Marketer Partnership will include both the brand and agency name. The AD Campaign of the Year and AI AD Campaign of the Year will include the campaign title, brand, and agency name as credits. Partnered agencies for these categories will not be included in the credits across all channels, but are required for judging purposes.

Once submitted, the credits cannot be changed. Inaccurate credits may confuse the judges and result in the deduction of marks or disqualification. The Organiser reserves the right to approve any change requests and will amend incorrect credits not complying with our rules without further notice.

DEADLINES:

Entrants must submit their entries by the respective deadlines, including payment completion, to allow sufficient time for processing and resolving any issues before the entries proceed for preliminary judging. Any delays may result in disqualification.

DISPUTES:

The Organiser reserves the right to withdraw any entry that breaches in the event of a complaint against any winning or shortlisted entry, the Organiser will conduct a full investigation into each case and will request detailed documentation from all parties involved, including the complainant, the entrants, and the client. The entrant will be solely responsible for clarifying the case, including obtaining approval from the brand’s representative. The Organiser will not hesitate to withdraw an award if the complaint is upheld.

DISQUALIFICATION AND DISCRETION:

Companies must cooperate with the Organiser and provide accurate information and sufficient evidence to determine whether a company is affiliated with or owned by a Network, Independent Network, Independent Healthcare Network, Holding Company, Media Network, and/or Healthcare Network. Examples of appropriate information may include contracts, ownership documents, or changes in branding on websites. Additionally, companies must submit the relevant, signed Declaration Form(s), by the Final Deadline.

Haymarket will have absolute discretion in determining: (i) a company’s eligibility for an Award; (ii) whether a Company falls within a Network, Holding Company, Independent Healthcare Network, Independent Network, Media Network, and/or Healthcare Network; (iii) if a Company has submitted false, deliberately misleading, or fraudulent information; and (iv) whether any corrections are necessary to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the AOY Awards or the Organiser’s role in the same.

DISQUALIFICATION AND DISCRETION:

The Organiser reserves the right to amend the Entrant details, at our absolute discretion, if we believe the Entrant details are incorrect, due to an administrative error on the part of the Entrant.

The Organiser will not be responsible for omissions or wrongful inclusions caused by inaccurate or insufficient information provided to them. The Organiser has the right to disqualify any company that has submitted false, deliberately misleading, or fraudulent information at any time.

DUPLICATE ENTRY:

Entrants should not recreate the entry if they have made an error in the submission as a replacement. Any duplicate entry cannot be withdrawn or cancelled, and the entrant will be responsible for the entry fee, which is non-refundable. Any entry fees that are due but unpaid at the time of withdrawal must be paid immediately. The entrant may request to replace the duplicate entry with a new category with the Organiser’s approval. However, the entry fee paid will not be refunded for any fee difference between the original category and the new category. The entrant must pay any additional amount required for the fee difference between the original category and the new category.

ELIGIBILITY:

To be eligible, all entries must comply with the Terms and Conditions, including requirements outlined in the Entry Kit and Entry Requirements.
▪ All entries must relate to achievements ONLY during the eligibility period. Written entries that do not focus on the eligibility period but include achievements outside the review period will be disqualified.
▪ Entries must be truthful, and factual where applicable.
▪ Entries must be original and owned, and no additional permissions or approvals from a third party should be required for the use of the Entry materials as stated herein and on the Awards Entry Page.
▪ We reserve the right to reject any Entry/ies and/or rescind any award that fails to comply with stated requirements, The entrant remains responsible for any entry fees. No refunds will be issued as a result of rescission.

ENDORSEMENT:

All entries must be endorsed, authorized, and signed off by the endorsers specified under the Endorsement section. For agency and people categories, your CEO and CFO or individuals holding equivalent roles should insert the digital signatures on the last page of your entry submission paper (E-signature). A Letter of Endorsement (LOE) with physical wet signatures will be required to accompany every submission. For the AD Campaign of the Year, AI AD Campaign of the Year and Agency Marketer Partnership of the Year categories, apart from the above agency’s endorsement, an additional endorsement using the Letter of Endorsement from the brand is required.

For the Brand of the Year and Marketer of the Year, the endorsement must be completed by the brand company. The written submission will require inserting the digital signature supported by the Brand LOE in wet signatures. The endorser must hold a senior position such as Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Brand, or at a seniority that is authorized to verify the information in the submission and to be uploaded to the online form. Entries that are incorrectly endorsed will be considered withdrawn without further notification and will not proceed to the judging stage. The entry fee will be non-refundable, and entrants will be responsible for any unpaid fees.

ENTRY CHANGES:

If an Entrant wishes to withdraw an entry, the Entrant must notify the Organiser by email to WTW@haymarket.asia. Any refund, if approved, will require a processing fee of HKD1,500 and will be automatically deducted from its entry fee before any refund is processed.

ENTRY CODE OF CONDUCT:

Haymarket Events, part of Haymarket Media Group, is committed to ensuring that all entrants and entries are judged fairly, equitably, and by their peers. With this in mind, we would like to remind all entrants that we expect them to enter their work in good faith, with honesty and integrity.

We expect all entries to represent bona fide work that a company or agency is proud to have produced.

We acknowledge that the use of AI has become increasingly common, transforming how people work and the outputs they deliver. In light of this, we expect entrants to indicate clearly where AI has been used — whether in the development of the work itself or in shaping the written entry or any associated assets submitted as part of that entry.

If it becomes clear that an entry, or if the work entered, has been fabricated in any way, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Haymarket Media Group reserves the right to disqualify the entry.

If results have already been published, we retain the right to rescind the award and will publish an explanation on our relevant brand sites. Please note: any such decision will be made in consultation with the Chair of Judges and/or relevant judging panel.

Haymarket Media Group stands by its values of creativity, expertise, integrity, innovation, and respect. We expect everyone who enters, judges, or attends our events to uphold these same principles.

ENTRY SUBMISSION:

For each entry, you must provide separate documentation, supporting materials, and an entry fee. There is no limit on the number of entry submissions, and you can enter multiple categories with the same entry. However, you should tailor your entry to that specific category even when the criteria appear to be the same to avoid being penalized during judging.

The written submission must address and answer the criteria for the chosen category as stated on the entry template. Judges may, at their discretion, reassign, provide a low score, or disqualify the affected entry if it does not adhere to the category or is replicated across multiple categories.

For multiple agencies working on the same project or partnership for the same client, all agencies and clients must agree on a joint entry. Any duplication or disputes may result in disqualification and clarification with the client may be required. The credited agency will be the lead agency or the entrant agency.

ENTRY FEE:

Once the entry has been submitted via the entry platform, entry fees will be charged, and you will be responsible for paying for the entries, even if you have not proceeded to the payment page or in the event of disqualification, entry withdrawal, duplicate submissions, or non-endorsement by management.
▪ Entries are non-refundable. Haymarket Media Ltd retains the right to claim unpaid entry fees and reserves the right to disqualify any unpaid entries and seek legal action to claim for any unpaid entry fees.
▪ Entry fees shall be payable in HKD (Hong Kong Dollars) except for South Asia region, for which all fees will be payable in INR (Indian Rupee) with subject to an additional 18% GST.
▪ Entries unpaid by the respective deadlines (Early Bird Deadline by 30 June, Standard Entry Deadline by 30 July, and Final Entry Deadline by 4 September 2026) may be disqualified.
▪ All submission deadlines shall be enforced strictly based on the applicable regional time zone: 18:00 Hong Kong Time (GMT+8) for all non-South Asia submissions, and 15:30 (UTC +05:30) for South Asia submissions.
▪ Extension beyond the final deadline may be subject to an additional late fee and final approval by the Asia Awards Team.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Please do not provide any sensitive or confidential information in your Executive Summary, which will be published if your entry wins and is visible to the judges during the judging stage.
The summary should strictly focus on your entry. DO NOT provide irrelevant information or company credentials for promotion or marketing purposes. Incorrect submissions will not be used on the website should the entry win. Any changes required will incur a fee of HKD1,500 and are subject to the Organiser’s approval.

FORMAT:

Formats and file sizes of the entry submission paper, images, and supporting materials must be strictly adhered to. The entrant is responsible for ensuring all formats are followed strictly as per the guidelines. Failing to do so might result in the entry being scored low by judges and may result in disqualification. Any changes required might result in an extra fee.

INDEPENDENT AGENCY:

This category is open to all individual markets within the Southeast Asia region and the winner will be determined by points. For other regions such as Australia/New Zealand, Greater China, Japan/Korea, and South Asia, it can be submitted as a single market or regional entry.

An independent Agency is defined as (a) majority owned by its management or independent shareholders with 51% or more ownership; (b) not associated with any Holding Company or Network, and (c) does not exceed US$2 billion in revenue billings across Asia-Pacific. Agencies that exceed the stated revenue amount are not eligible to enter.

For clarification, Agencies that are owned more than 20% by a Holding Company, even if not part of a network, are not considered independent agencies. The number of offices an Agency has and the countries in which it operates are irrelevant to its classification as an Independent Agency. Please refer to the Terms & Conditions for Independent Agency and the list of Holding Companies.

HOLDING COMPANIES OR NETWORKS: At time of writing, we consider holding companies or networks to be: Accenture; ADK; Bain Capital; BlueFocus Group; Brandtech; CHEIL; Chime Communications; Deloitte; Dentsu Group; Enero; Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Havas Group; Interpublic Group; Innocean; Omnicom; Publicis Groupe; S4 Capital; Stagwell; Vayner X and WPP.

We reserve the right to update the Holding Companies or Networks lists at our discretion. If we discover that any of the mentioned entities are engaged in a sale, merger, or acquisition, we may remove them from the list and inform the party involved which might affect the category they entered.

JUDGING:

Entry Kit/Templates may provide judging criteria for the Awards. The judges determine if an entry is worthy of being shortlisted or winning an award. All consideration of Entries is based solely on the merits of the information provided in your Entry.

▪ The judges’ decisions are final, and neither the organiser nor the judging panel will enter any correspondence about them.
▪ The judges have the right to re-distribute the entries into other relevant categories or not award the category if they feel the entries are not suitable in the category entered. Category changes will be made solely at the discretion of the judges and their decision is final.
▪ We reserve the right to award any entry in any given category.

LANGUAGE:

Entry submission includes but is not limited to the online entry form, written submission paper must be in English only. Any supporting material or any video submission that is not in English should be accompanied by a translation to avoid being penalized during judging.

LIABILITY:

Entrant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Haymarket from any claims, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) and damages arising out of or resulting from Entrant’s breach of any representation or warranty contained in the Terms and Conditions.

▪ You shall not exclude or limit your liability under these Terms and Conditions, including for loss of goodwill and reputation.

▪ We shall not (whether in contract, tort, negligence, statutory duty, or otherwise) be liable to you under these Terms and Conditions for consequential, indirect, or special damages (including indirect loss of profit and indirect loss of revenue).

▪ Subject to the clauses above, our maximum aggregate liability to you under these Terms and Conditions (whether arising in contract, tort, negligence, statutory duty, or otherwise) shall not exceed the Entry fees You paid to Us for the related Award submission.

LICENSE:

By submitting the Entry, the Entrant hereby grants to Haymarket, a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, right, and revocable license, to use, reproduce, publish, distribute, display, modify (for formatting purposes), non-confidential portions of the Entry (such as campaign images or videos) in any media in connection with the Awards for educational, promotional, and publicity purposes (“License”). Each Entrant represents and warrants that they own or have secured the necessary permits or approvals from a third party (or parties) to provide the License for Haymarket’s use as described hereinabove.

PARTNERED AGENCY:

To ensure the importance of transparency regarding partnerships related to AD Campaign, AI AD Campaign, Agency Marketer Partnership, and Brand of the Year categories, please provide details of any third parties involved in the joint collaboration. This information is required during the judging process and will NOT be publicly credited across any channels, including announcements, the AOY website, or trophies.

PAYMENT:

All payments for submissions must be confirmed at the point of submission, and if via the bank transfer method, the confirmation transaction proof must be provided no later than the next respective day noon time. Once you confirm to submit, your entry will be processed, and from this point forward, entrants are liable for all entry fees, including any duplication of entries. Payment not received as stated will not be treated a successful entry.

PAYMENT METHODS:

You can choose between online and offline methods by credit card or bank transfer. Please refer to the payment page for details or get in touch with the Organisers. Credit card bank charges will be applied.

For offline method, you may choose “Bank Transfer” as your payment method and you will be responsible for any bank charges associated with this transaction. After making the transfer, please provide the successful transaction proof to confirm payment, clearly stating the ENTRY and ORDER ID numbers and/or invoice number.

All payments for submissions must be confirmed at the point of submission, and if via the bank transfer method, the confirmation transaction proof must be provided no later than the next respective day noon time. Once you confirm to submit, your entry will be processed, and from this point forward, entrants are liable for all entry fees, including any duplication of entries. Payment not received as stated will not be treated a successful entry.

PUBLISH:

The Organiser reserves the right to publish all entries wholly or in part, as case studies or for publicity purposes. Entrants are responsible for highlighting any confidential or sensitive information. Please refer to the Confidentiality section for further guidance.

QUERIES:

Judges reserve the right to raise queries regarding the information provided in the written submission and supporting material and penalize any entry if there is evidence of inaccurate and misleading claims, which could result in disqualification.

RULES:

The Organiser reserves the right to withdraw any entry that violates any of the Awards Organiser’s rules. In the case of a complaint against any winning or shortlisted entry, the Organiser will investigate each case and request detailed documentation from all parties involved including the complainant, the entrants, and the client. If the complaint is valid, entries and, if applicable, awards will be withdrawn accordingly.

TEMPLATES:

All written submission papers must use the relevant entry template as provided by the Organiser. You may format the written submission at your discretion, but you must strictly adhere to including the credit section table, endorsement details on the last page of the submission, and criteria headers as judges will evaluate based on the template’s criteria.

For the agency or brand’s endorsement, you are required to use the relevant template provided with respect to the support of your written submission. Incorrect endorsement will not be accepted.

TROPHY CREDITS:

Trophy credits will be awarded based on the information provided on the online entry form under the “Credits Section.” Requests for changes to the credits after submission will not be allowed in particularly during the judging period, or when shortlists/winners are announced. The request will be reviewed by the Organiser, and if approved, a fee will be applied.