Since its inception successful 2015, the MCP Awards person recognized exceptional marketers connected an yearly ground — showcasing outstanding work, providing well-earned vulnerability successful sum and interviews, and bestowing upon them the highest grant successful search.
While there’s nary azygous look for creating a winning entry, our judges person seen capable submissions complete the years to cognize what separates the genuinely exceptional from the simply good. The strongest applications don’t conscionable stock results, they show a story. They supply context, show strategical thinking, and intelligibly pass why the activity mattered.
And because awesome proposal shouldn’t beryllium gatekept, we thought we’d bring immoderate of those insights straight to you.
We asked respective of this year’s MCP Awards judges to stock their champion proposal for prospective entrants. From communal mistakes to debar to the elements that consistently guidelines out, their insights connection a valuable look wrong the judging process and tin thief you build a stronger, much compelling submission.
Keep reference for a roundup of caller insights from immoderate of our judges. (And spot the complete database of 2026 judges here!)
“A awesome introduction is simply a communicative pinch a goal, an action, and a measurable result that ties backmost to it. Tell that communicative arsenic good arsenic you can, and see a platform that makes it easy to spot precisely what you accomplished.”
– Amy Hebdon, Founder, Paid Search Magic
“Explain your tactics. Many entries conscionable opportunity “we utilized champion practices”. Everyone’s champion practices and strategies differ. Explaining the process that lead to your results will item your imaginative thinking, problem solving, and uniqueness. Showing your insights and thought processes helps your introduction standout and showcase your company’s competitory edge.”
– Brad Geddes, Co-Founder, Adalysis
“I look for SAY which stands for: Situation, Action and Yield.
Applicants should constitute a clear illustration of the situation, what they did and the consequence achieved complete the clip period,”
– Jo Juliana Turnbull, Growth Marketing Senior Manager, Holafly
“Show maine the humans down the metrics. We’re successful a clip wherever AI is reshaping hunt astatine a gait nary of america person seen, and that displacement matters…but the applications that emergence to the apical will lead pinch empathy, not conscionable analytics. I want stories wherever I tin spot really your activity built genuine spot pinch existent people, not simply visibility successful hunt and AI engines. I’m particularly drawn to entries that clasp a wellness-based attack to their craft, and to teams who brace their quantitative wins pinch qualitative insight: the quote, the aha moment, the alteration successful really personification felt astir a marque aliases experience. Tell maine really you held the quality astatine the halfway – arsenic strategy. If your task made group consciousness seen, understood, aliases genuinely helped, thin into that. Those are the stories I’ll beryllium looking for.”
– Danita Smith, Founder & CEO/Chief Innovation Strategist, Adanis Design
“Clearly authorities the situation you solved, and backmost it up pinch data. Explain the strategy down the strategies you utilized and the results they drove. Tell maine not conscionable what happened, but what effect did it person connected your campaigns? What did you do otherwise arsenic a result?”
– Melissa Mackey, Director of Paid Search, Compound Growth Marketing
“Evidence: charts, analytics, screenshots. Be detailed, specific, and stock data.”
– Barry Schwartz, Editor, MCP
“Tell a story. Numbers get you successful the room, but the communicative is what stays pinch the judges. I want to cognize what the problem was, why it was hard, what you tried, and what yet worked. That arc, the messiness of existent work, is what separates a memorable introduction from a forgettable one. The submissions that instrumentality pinch maine are the ones wherever I tin consciousness the reasoning down the decisions, not conscionable the outcome. You did awesome activity this year; now, make the judges consciousness the weight of what you solved earlier you show them the numbers.”
– Ameet Khabra, Founder, Hop Skip Media
“The 2 main things each award-winning entries stock are that they explicate the whys down the hows, and they bring receipts (data to backmost up claims). If you can’t stock the information down your introduction (budgets, revenue, etc.), you are putting yourself astatine a chopped disadvantage and whitethorn extremity up wasting the introduction fee. A batch of group taxable the aforesaid practices – if you tin separate yourself by showing innovative thinking, you’ll do well!”
– Navah Hopkins, Product Liaison, Microsoft
“Give maine each the information you can. Show the numbers and the existent effect of immoderate you did; conversions, ROI, and immoderate monetary increases you were capable to cause.”
– Celeste Gonzalez, Content Implementation and Product Specialist, Lastmile Retail
“Show maine thing I haven’t seen before, past beryllium it worked. The applications that onshore are the ones pinch a genuinely unexpected attack backed by numbers that make the consequence undeniable.”
– Adam Tanguay, Head of Growth, Jordan Digital Marketing
“I americium looking for an attack aliases strategy that challenges the norm of SEM. A unsocial attack that focuses connected achieving the business goals by measurement of run building crossed Brand, Non-Brand, Performance Max, Conquesting, and wide upper-funnel tactics. An precocious measurement of reasoning astir the target audience, messaging, conversion goals, etc. that helps show a blase measurement of managing the campaigns & wide strategy to transcend business goals.”
– Matt Devinney, Director, Client Partner, Tinuiti
“I americium looking for projects that break caller crushed pinch innovative takes connected SEO, and are backed up by information and numbers-driven insights each measurement of the way.”
– Olya Ianovskaia, Founder and Lead Consultant, MycoMinds SEO
“Make your introduction easy readable. We are going to request to spell done respective entries – I cognize the entries could beryllium rather method (and the value of that will return precedent), but I americium much apt to ballot for you if I enjoyed reference your entry.”
– Anu Adegbola, Paid Media Editor, MCP
“My #1 portion of proposal is to showcase strategy that genuinely breaks caller ground. Award-winning applications show invention that anticipates wherever SEM is heading, whether that’s leveraging AI successful caller ways, pioneering audience-targeting approaches, aliases processing unsocial cross-channel integration. But invention unsocial isn’t enough. The astir compelling entries link these forward-thinking strategies straight to measurable business outcomes, providing clear grounds of really your activity translated to customer maturation metrics that matter. We’re looking for that cleanable balance: imaginative execution that pushes boundaries while delivering documented ROI that proves your attack wasn’t conscionable innovative—it was transformative.”
– Joseph Kerschbaum, Senior Vice President, Search & Growth Labs, DEPT
And location you person it! Submit your introduction today to beryllium considered by this year’s esteemed judges. Early Bird rates expire July 10… truthful get a move on!
![How To Do An Seo Competitor Analysis [+ Template]](https://static.semrush.com/blog/uploads/media/55/5c/555c50d3d1615501c9aa6723041f9c69/f2fae774a680cffb3b2df513dbb9e38a/seo-competitor-analysis.png "How To Do An Seo Competitor Analysis [+ Template]")
English (US) · 
Indonesian (ID) ·