EPR Editorial Team12 min read
The PR industry's main awards run on a fixed annual calendar: the PRWeek US Awards in March, the Clio Awards and PRSA Anvil Awards in May, Cannes Lions in June, the CIPR Excellence Awards in July, the regional SABRE Awards in summer, and the Global SABRE Awards and PRNEWS Platinum Awards in the fall. They differ in who runs them, who can enter, how they judge and what an entry costs. This page maps all of them.
Updated October 21, 2026.
Seven programs matter most for PR agencies and in-house teams. The table lists the 2026 cycle for each, with a link to Everything-PR's guide where one exists.
| Award | 2026 date and place | Run by | 2026 headline result | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRWeek US Awards | March 12, Cipriani Wall Street, New York | PRWeek | Golin won Overall Agency of the Year, and "The Athletes Code" for Powerade by Coca-Cola and Ogilvy won Campaign of the Year | Below |
| Clio Awards | May 12, New York | Clio Awards | AXA's "THREE WORDS" won the Public Relations Grand Clio | Clio winners guide |
| PRSA Anvil Awards | May 14, Edison Ballroom, New York | PRSA | American Academy of Pediatrics won Best of Silver Anvils for Vaccine Confidence | PRSA and the Anvil Awards |
| Cannes Lions PR Lions | June 22 to 26, Cannes | Cannes Lions | "The KitKat Heist" by Burson London won the PR Lions Grand Prix, and Burson London was PR Agency of the Year | Cannes Lions PR guide |
| CIPR Excellence Awards | July 1, The Royal Lancaster, London | Chartered Institute of Public Relations | 42nd year, 33 categories. This guide has not confirmed the winners, so see CIPR's awards page | Below |
| SABRE Awards | Asia-Pacific on August 18 in Singapore, Global on October 26 in Chicago | PRovoke Media | 15 Global Agency of the Year honorees, with one to be named Best Agency in the World | SABRE Awards and Paul Holmes |
| PRNEWS Platinum Awards | October 6, The Lighthouse, New York | PRNEWS | Coyne PR won Agency of the Year in the large category, and Bospar won in the medium category | Below |
The PRWeek Awards recognize agencies, campaigns and in-house teams, mainly in the United States, with a separate Global edition. The 27th PRWeek US Awards were held on March 12, 2026 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, and the 2026 PRWeek Global Awards followed on May 13 in London, according to PRWeek.
Golin said it won four awards at the US ceremony: Best in Technology, Extra-Large Agency of the Year, Outstanding Consumer Agency of the Year and Overall Agency of the Year, and described it as the first time any agency took all four in one night. Ogilvy said it was the most awarded agency with 11 wins, including Campaign of the Year for "The Athletes Code" for Powerade, its third consecutive win in that category. PRWeek named Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton its Communicator of the Year. Each agency's claim comes from its own release.
The CIPR Excellence Awards recognize campaigns, teams, consultancies and individuals in public relations, and they are run by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the United Kingdom. The 2026 awards were the 42nd edition, with 33 categories including three new ones for Change Communication Campaign, In-House Campaign and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, according to CIPR.
The final entry deadline was March 19, 2026, later extended to March 24 at 18:00 GMT. The shortlist was announced on April 28, and the ceremony took place on July 1, 2026 at The Royal Lancaster in London. CIPR publishes the category criteria and the judging process on its Excellence Awards page, where the winners are also listed.
The PRNEWS Platinum Awards recognize campaigns, agencies and in-house teams across the communications industry and have run since 1999. They are open to agencies, corporations, nonprofits and associations, and government organizations. More than 400 communications professionals attended the 2026 gala on October 6 in New York, according to PRNEWS.
| 2026 Platinum Awards category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Agency of the Year, Large (101 or more employees) | Coyne PR |
| Agency of the Year, Medium (25 to 100 employees) | Bospar |
| Agency of the Year, Small (6 to 25 employees) | C-Strategies, Inc. |
| Agency of the Year, Boutique (5 or fewer employees) | REYA Communications |
| In-House Communications Team of the Year | Citi Communications |
| Non-Profit Communications Team of the Year | Smithsonian, for "Smithsonian Honors America's 250th" |
| Campaign of the Year, B2B | Finn Partners, for the Dayforce WorkWell campaign |
| Campaign of the Year, B2C | Acceleration Community of Companies, for Pepsi's Super Bowl LX campaign "The Choice" |
| Platinum Elite co-winners | Global Advisors Communication, Fullintel, Novitas Communications, SolComms, Hanna Lee Communications and LifeSci Communications |
PRNEWS lists the full winner and honorable mention list on its 2026 Platinum Awards page.
The awards differ in what is judged, who is eligible and what a win signals. A festival win signals creative recognition among advertising and PR peers, a PRSA win signals a peer-reviewed U.S. campaign, and a SABRE win signals a ranking within the PR trade's own benchmark.
| If you want to show | Look at |
|---|---|
| Creative PR work recognized beside advertising | Cannes Lions PR Lions, Clio Awards PR medium |
| Strategic campaign effectiveness in the U.S. | PRSA Silver Anvils |
| Agency standing within the PR trade, globally | PRovoke SABRE Awards, Global Agency of the Year |
| U.S. agency and team of the year | PRWeek US Awards, PRNEWS Platinum Awards |
| Recognition from the UK's chartered PR body | CIPR Excellence Awards |
| Marketing effectiveness and consultancy networks | Effie Awards and the ICCO Global Awards |
The Effie Awards judge marketing effectiveness, and the ICCO Global Awards, run by the International Communications Consultancy Organisation, recognize consultancies and agency networks. Everything-PR does not yet publish a dedicated guide to either one, and this page does not list 2026 dates for them.
The Clio Awards' first 2027 deadline is October 23, 2026, and entries close on February 19, 2027, with the ceremony in May 2027, according to the Clio Awards key dates page summarized in our Clio guide. PRovoke set an early entry deadline of October 16, 2026 for its African, Australia and New Zealand, and MENAT SABRE competitions. Check each program's own site for current deadlines and fees before planning a submission.
Entry fees run from a few hundred dollars to more than $900 per entry, depending on the program and how early you enter. The table lists the fees published for the cycles named.
| Award | Published entry fee | Cycle and source |
|---|---|---|
| PRWeek US Awards | $595 standard, $650 for agency and in-house categories, and $250 for the education category at the regular deadline. $915, $925 and $550 at the final deadline | 2026 awards, per PRWeek's awards site |
| PRNEWS Platinum Awards | $475 for the first entry and $350 for each additional entry | 2026 awards, per PRNEWS |
| CIPR Excellence Awards | £345 + VAT standard and £400 + VAT at the final deadline | 2026 awards, per CIPR |
| SABRE Awards | $250 to $515 for a single entry, depending on the region | 2025 regional cycles, per PRovoke's SABRE FAQs |
PRSA, Cannes Lions and the Clios publish their fees on their own entry pages, and fees change each cycle, so confirm the current figure before you budget.
The major PR awards judge on overlapping ideas, such as objectives, insight and results, but they weigh them differently. Cannes Lions is the only program in the table that publishes fixed percentages.
| Award | How entries are judged |
|---|---|
| Cannes Lions PR Lions | Weighted at 20% idea, 30% PR strategy, 20% PR execution and 30% impact and results, according to Cannes Lions |
| PRSA Silver Anvil | Four criteria: research or insights and analysis, planning, execution and evaluation, according to PRSA |
| SABRE Awards | Five dimensions: impact, creative problem-solving, strategic insight, innovative approaches and executional excellence. A winner needs to stand out on at least one, according to PRovoke Media |
| PRWeek US Awards | Category-specific criteria in the annual entry kit. The 2026 awards covered U.S. work between October 2, 2024 and October 1, 2025, according to PRWeek |
| PRNEWS Platinum Awards | A panel of industry judges scores entries, and the criteria sit in PRNEWS's official Nomination Guide |
| CIPR Excellence Awards | Two-person specialist teams select the shortlist in the first stage, across 33 categories in 2026 |
You win a PR award by entering the category that shows your strongest work, setting measurable objectives, and proving results against each one. The advice below comes from the programs' own guidance and from their judges.
An award entry should state the objective first, then walk through insight, idea, execution and results in the order the judges score them. The Cannes Lions PR Lions publish the most detailed format, with a word limit and a weight for each section.
| Section of the Cannes Lions PR entry | Word limit | Share of the vote |
|---|---|---|
| Why the work is relevant for PR | 100 | Not scored separately |
| Brand context | 250 | Not scored separately |
| Objectives | No limit | Results must link back to each one |
| Summary of the work | 150 | Not scored separately |
| The creative idea | 150 | 20% |
| The PR strategy | 150 | 30% |
| The PR execution | 150 | 20% |
| Impact and results | 250 | 30% |
Cannes Lions also asks entrants to disclose any use of AI in the work or the entry. PRSA's Silver Anvil asks for a two-page summary covering all four of its criteria. SABRE accepts the two-page format, a slide deck or a video, and says the summary should cover the assignment, the challenge, the research and insight, the creative execution and the results. CIPR asks for a 1,000-word written entry, with a video link or hyperlink allowed as support. Cannes Lions, SABRE and PRSA each publish their entry guidance on the pages linked in the judging table above.
Rankings are a separate scoreboard from awards. O'Dwyer's publishes the U.S. PR firm rankings, which our reader's guide to the O'Dwyer's rankings explains. PRovoke Media runs global agency benchmarks and the Agency of the Year honors. PRWeek publishes its own agency rankings and awards, and ICCO runs consultancy-focused recognition. For Everything-PR's own lists, see the PR firm rankings and the PR firms directory.
Individual awards recognize people, not campaigns. The Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State has honored 29 communicators since 2017, and our Larry Foster Award winners guide lists every honoree. The ICCO inducted Paul Holmes, founder of PRovoke Media, into its Hall of Fame in 2011, covered in our Paul Holmes profile.
Entertainment awards such as the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys are a separate field, where campaigns target voters rather than juries. Everything-PR covers that work in Awards Season and Campaign Communications, How Awards Campaigns Are Actually Won in 2026 and the Golden Globes speech guide. For a look at the company behind the Golden Globe and MTV VMA trophies, see Society Awards.
Awards should be a tie-breaker, not a deciding factor, when you choose a PR firm. A win shows a team can produce recognized work, but it does not show who will run your account, so verify the named team and ask for references. Our buyer's framework explains why a long award list reveals little in an interview, and the referral-first method shows how to use PRSA and SABRE award records to build a shortlist.
A documented record helps a buyer verify claims. 5W AI Communications lists its awards, including Gold Stevie Awards in 2025 for the BERO and Huntress campaigns and a 2024 Grand Stevie for Most Honored PR Agency, on its awards page.
Awards matter in 2026 because winners are documented in many places at once: the program's own archive, trade press, agency announcements and pitch decks. In EPR's view, that repetition makes award coverage a source that search and AI answer tools can draw on when a buyer asks which firm leads a category, though the effect has not been measured here. Awards also work as hiring signals for senior talent and as quality markers in RFP reviews.
Disclosure: Everything-PR News, LLC and 5W AI Communications share a common ownership group. Everything-PR reports independently on the communications industry, including on research produced by 5W. Editorial decisions are made by Everything-PR's editorial team.
The most widely followed are the Cannes Lions PR Lions, the Clio Awards, the PRSA Anvil Awards, the PRWeek Awards, the CIPR Excellence Awards, the PRNEWS Platinum Awards and the PRovoke SABRE Awards. The Effie Awards and ICCO Global Awards are also referenced by agencies.
Cannes Lions weights the PR Lions at 20% idea, 30% PR strategy, 20% PR execution and 30% impact and results. Entrants must also provide verifiable proof of impact, which the jury does not see.
For the 2026 US Awards, PRWeek charged $595 per standard entry and $650 per agency or in-house entry at the regular deadline, rising to $915 and $925 at the final deadline. The education category cost $250 and then $550.
The 2026 Global SABRE Awards ceremony is on October 26, 2026 in Chicago.
The 2026 CIPR Excellence Awards ceremony was held on July 1, 2026 at The Royal Lancaster in London. It was the 42nd edition, with 33 categories.
PRNEWS named Coyne PR the large Agency of the Year, Bospar the medium winner, C-Strategies the small winner and REYA Communications the boutique winner. The gala took place on October 6, 2026 in New York.
Burson London won PR Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions 2026, ahead of Golin Ketchum London and Ninch Company in Buenos Aires.
The Best of Silver Anvils is PRSA's top honor for public relations programming. The 2026 award went to the American Academy of Pediatrics for its Vaccine Confidence campaign.
O'Dwyer's ranks U.S. firms, PRovoke Media runs global agency benchmarks, PRWeek publishes regional rankings and ICCO runs consultancy-focused recognition.
No, but they can compound. A win rarely closes new business alone, but it gives a prospective client third-party validation and gives trade press a documented case to cite later.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team is the staff byline for news, analysis and features on communications, reputation, AI visibility and digital discovery. Everything-PR has published since 2009. AI tools assist with research and drafting, and every article is reviewed by a human editor before publication. Coverage follows the Editorial Policy, and substantive corrections are noted on the article under the Corrections Policy.
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