Judging rules & Regulations

1. International juries appointed by the Slovenian Advertising Chamber shall judge all entries registered in the Golden Drum Festival competition (hereinafter: the Festival organizer).
2. The Festival's competition programme are divided into six sections: One-Channel Drum, Omni-Channel Drum, Craft Drum, Creative Business Excellence Drum, Creative Media Excellence Drum and additional All Juries section.
   Accordingly, the Festival shall have the following juries: the One-Channel Jury, Omni-Channel Jury, Craft Jury, Creative Business Excellence Jury and Creative Media Excellence Jury. All juries will be shortlisting works in All juries section, containing special groups Genius Loci/Local Spirit, Social Good and Game Changer, and all five jury presidents and one representative of each of the five juries chosen by the festival organiser will be judging works in these groups for final awards.
3. Each jury shall be comprised of up to max. 16 members. The work of an individual jury shall be headed by the jury president, appointed by the Festival organizer. In a special All Juries section, each jury member will shortlist the entries while the five presidents and one representative of each of the five juries chosen by the festival organiser will take over the role of judging entries for awards with no leading individual/president. In case of a tied vote, the five jury presidents have the right to make the decision about the final result.
4. The jury president shall be responsible for the fair judging of entries. The jury president shall brief jury members on judging criteria, before the judging of entries begins.
5. All members and the president of the jury shall have equal voting rights, and participate in the judging of registered entries. Each jury member shall make decisions independently and autonomously on the basis of his or her expertise, reputation and authority. Moreover, each jury member shall have the right to make objections and raise questions, and shall be obliged to clarify his or her assessment when judging entries that will receive the main awards, or when so requested by the president of the jury.
6. Jury members shall not judge entries:
   a.) that were registered by their employer,
   b.) that were registered by an agency from the same agency network as the jury member,
   c.) that they co-authored.
7. The work of each jury shall be planned and monitored by a representative of the Competition Director appointed by the Festival Organizer. The president and members of the jury shall be provided assistance in interpreting the Festival rules. The Competition Director shall be responsible for the timely judging of entries and the accuracy of all results.
8. The work of the juries shall be supported by the appropriate software. The juries shall also receive administrative support from the jury coordinator.
9. All communication within the juries shall be in English.

Voting Process

10. The first round of judging shall be done remotely online prior to the start of the Festival. Each jury member shall receive a list of entries and precise instructions prior to judging. Jury members shall examine all registered entries, and mark each with a vote of YES or NO for inclusion on the shortlist. The shortlist shall include the optimal approximation to 20% of top-ranked entries in a group determined by the president of the jury.
11. ​Before the second round of judging, the presidents of One-Channel Jury, Omni-Channel Jury, Craft Jury, Creative Business Excellence Jury and Creative Media Excellence Jury will receive the shortlist for confirmation. Depending on the quality of entries, each jury president shall have the right to adjust the shortlist by including a minimum of 15% and a maximum of 30% of top-ranked entries on the shortlist in each group. The president of the jury may not select individual entries to be added to the shortlist but only move the limit (in between 15 and 30 percent) of where the shortlist begins.
12. A special All Juries section featuring groups focused on local spirit, social good causes, and works demonstrating a creative breakthrough, an innovative shift in process or procedures that lead the way forward in advertising will be judged somewhat differently now, and will not have its own jury. Works submitted in this section will be shortlisted by all jury members instead, and awarded by the five juries' presidents and one representative of each of the five juries chosen by the festival organiser. The first round of judging shall be done remotely online prior to the start of the Festival by all jury members. Each jury member shall receive a list of entries and precise instructions prior to judging. Jury members shall examine all registered entries, and mark each with a vote of YES or NO for inclusion on the shortlist.
13. In special groups Genius Loci/Local Spirit, Social Good and Game Changer the shortlist shall include the optimal approximation to 20% of top-ranked entries in a group. The shortlist will be determined and confirmed by the Festival Organiser/Competition Directors. The presidents of each jury and one representative of each of the five juries chosen by the festival organiser will receive the shortlist and shall not have the right to add any additional entries to it.
14. The second round of judging shall be done online. Each jury will be brought together to judge the entries via online / video conference system at the same time to ensure a live debate and a fair evaluation of the work. Entries included on the shortlist shall be judged by category. All entries in groups without categories shall be judged simultaneously.
15. Each jury member with the right to vote shall judge entries on a scale of 6 to 10. Jury members shall discuss award recipients on the basis of these results. The jury shall present awards on the basis of the consensus between jury members.
16. If a member of the jury is excluded from voting and the result is a tie, the president of the jury shall cast the deciding vote. If the president of the jury is excluded from voting, the jury member selected by the president of the jury prior to the start of judging shall cast the deciding vote. This rule shall apply in all rounds of judging.
17. The best entry in an individual category shall receive a Golden Drum award. The jury may present one Golden Drum award in an individual category and is not obliged to present an award in every category. In groups without categories, the jury may present one Golden Drum award. With the consent of the Competition Director of the Golden Drum Festival, each Jury reserves the right to award more than one Golden Drum award in an individual category. The recipient of this award receives 8 points.
18. The second-best entry in an individual category may receive a Silver Drum award. The jury may present one Silver Drum award in an individual category. One such award may be presented in groups without categories. The jury may decide not to present an award. With the consent of the Competition Director of the Golden Drum Festival, each Jury reserves the right to award more than one Silver Drum award in an individual category. The recipient of this award receives 4 points.
19. The third-best entry in an individual category may receive a Bronze Drum award. The jury may present one Bronze Drum award in an individual category. One such award may be presented in groups without categories. The jury may decide not to present an award. With the consent of the Competition Director of the Golden Drum Festival, each Jury reserves the right to award more than one Bronze Drum award in an individual category. The recipient of this award receives 2 points.
20. The best entry in an individual group shall receive a Grand Prix award (with an exception of Social Good group, Genius Loci / Local Spirit Group and Game Changer Group).
21. If the client of the submitted entry is a non-profit organization, the entry may not receive the Grand Prix award in any of the Golden Drum festival groups. If the client is a profit organization, the entry may receive the Grand Prix award, even if the entry is deemed by their content to be social and charity-related. However, all social and charity-related entries (created for profit or non-profit organizations) may be submitted to the Social Good group, which will be judged by all jury members and awarded by the five juries' presidents and one representative of each of the five juries. The winner will receive the  Best of Social Good Award. Grand Prix is not awarded in the Social Good group. The recipient of this award receives 12 points. The Jury reserve the right to withhold this award.
22. Grand Prix is not awarded in the Genius Loci / Local Spirit group. However, the winner will receive the Best of Genius Loci Award. The recipient of this award receives 12 points. The group will be judged by all jury members, which reserves the right to withhold this award.
23. Grand Prix is not awarded in the Game Changer group. However, the winner will receive the Game Changer Award. The recipient of this award receives 12 points. The group will be judged by all jury members, which reserves the right to withhold this award.
24. The Juries may present a Grand Prix award in each of the 26 groups of entries (except Social Good group, Genius Loci / Local Spirit group and Game Changer group), but they reserve the right to withhold one Grand Prix award in each of the five sections. In the exceptional case of a major deviation in the quality of entries judged in more than one group, and with the consent of the Competition Director of the Golden Drum Festival, each Jury reserves the right to withhold the Grand Prix award in two groups from each section.
    The juries may also present Golden Drum, Silver Drum and Bronze Drum awards to the best entries in a category, but are not obliged to do so. Each of the juries shall be given an option to withhold a Golden Drum in two of the groups in each section (i.e. two groups in One-Channel, two groups in Omni-Channel, two groups in Craft, two groups in Creative Business Excellence and two groups in Creative Media Excellence) in case the jury finds the quality of the entered works in particular groups below the benchmark achieved in other groups. The jury shall be asked to argument such a decision. In the exceptional case of a major deviation in the quality of entries judged in more than two groups, and with the consent of the Competition Director of the Golden Drum Festival, each Jury reserves the right to withhold the Golden Drum award in four groups from each section.
25. Entries included on the shortlist, Bronze Drum, Silver Drum, Golden Drum, Grand Prix, Best of Social Good, Best of Genius Loci and Game Changer Award recipients shall receive points as follows:

26. Series of entries included on the shortlist and Bronze Drum, Silver Drum, Golden Drum, Grand Prix, Best of Social Good, Best of Genius Loci and Game Changer award recipients shall receive points as follows:

Only the points for the highest-ranking award shall be taken into account.

The agency name shall be taken into account in the calculation of awards presented on the basis of the Festival’s points system.

27. The following awards shall be presented on the basis of the aforementioned points system:

• Adriatic Agency of the Year award shall be presented on the basis of the Festival’s points system for the most successful entries from the following Adriatic Region countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Based on collected points from all five sections, three of the best entries will be announced and one aforementioned award shall be presented. The Festival reserves the right to present the award only and not to explicate the collected points.
• ​Brand Grand Prix for the advertised brand that collects the most points (field“BRAND NAME” in the entry form);
• Independent Agency of the Year for the most successful independent advertising agency that collects the most points (field “AGENCY NAME AND CITY” in the entry form);
• Agency of the Year for the agency that collects the most points (field “AGENCY NAME AND CITY” in the entry form);
• Production Agency of the Year for the most successful production company that collects the most points (field “PRODUCTION COMPANY” in the entry form);
• Digital Agency of the Year for the most successful digital agency that collects the most points (field ˝DIGITAL AGENCY˝ in the entry form);
• Media Agency of the Year for the most successful media agency that collects the most points (field ˝MEDIA AGENCY˝ in the entry form);
• Creative Director of the Year awarded to the Creative Director of the Campaign of the Year that collects the most points for the campaign and the individual entries of the same campaign in all categories (fields “CAMPAIGN NAME” and “CREATIVE DIRECTOR” in the entry from)
• Network of the Year for the most successful advertising network on the basis of the points of all agencies that comprise the network in question (field “AGENCY NETWORK” in the entry form).

Other Rules

28. In the event of doubt regarding compliance with the Festival rules, the president of the jury may request that the Festival organizer verify the veracity of statements given in the registration form for an individual entry.
29. ​The president of the jury shall reserve the right to exclude from judging any entries that are proved to be "ghost ads" (unpublished or published without the client’s consent).
30. The decisions of the jury are final. The record regarding the judging of entries and awards presented shall be signed/confirmed by the president of the jury and the Competition Director.
31. Each jury member shall sign the declaration of honour before the beginning of the judging.
32. Members of the jury are sworn to silence concerning their work as jurors and are prohibited from discussing the results with anyone prior to the official award ceremony.
33. The recording of the judging process is prohibited.
34. Including other people in the judging process that are not a part of the official Golden Drum jury is prohibited.
35. Each juror agrees to abide the above rules.