ICAS announces new Global Award categories

The ICAS Executive Committee is delighted to announce new Global Award Categories, putting a spotlight on the ICAS Charter  and its key commitments adopted by its members in 2021. New award categories will also celebrate the most innovative SRO initiatives, projects that aim to foster sustainability in advertising and will feature for the first time ever an ‘ICAS Special Recognition Award’

The International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS) has organized Global Awards for Effective Advertising Self-Regulation since 2019. These awards, open to all ICAS members, aim to promote best practices among Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) worldwide by highlighting successful initiatives contributing to more ethical standards in advertising.

With the adoption of the ICAS Charter in May 2021, the ICAS Executive Committee has decided to change awards categories to reflect the important commitments made.

The Charter sets out the goals for effective ad self-regulatory systems, including setting high standards, achieving comprehensive coverage, ensuring independent decision-making, providing industry advice and training, undertaking ad monitoring and delivering enforcement.  Investment in technology is a thread that runs through the Charter’s commitments, as are the crucial principles of openness, transparency and accountability.  

In 2022, ICAS and its members have also focused on another key topic: sustainability and a more trustworthy marketing environment when it comes to green claims. Sustainability, as a key endeavor of the global advertising industry, and the solution provided by self-regulation, as well all the other charter commitments mentioned above will now be reflected in the new edition of the Global Awards.  

Staring in 2023, the ICAS Global Awards will consist in the following Awards:

Excellence Award – for the best charter commitment initiative: The objective of this Award Category is to reward outstanding SRO initiatives that have strengthened the national SR system or contributed to more ethical standards regarding one or several of the ten ICAS Charter commitments.

Inspiration Award – for the best charter commitment initiative of SROs with limited resources: The objective of this award category is to reward SROs with an annual income of less than 750.000EUR, which have developed successful initiatives that have strengthened their national SR system, the SRO, or advanced ad self-regulation regarding one or several of the ten ICAS Charter Commitments.  

Innovation Award: The objective of this award category is to highlight SR initiatives that are original and innovative. Examples could be technological innovations, new research and thought leadership initiatives or innovative SRO services that benefit the development of advertising self-regulation.

Sustainability Award: The objective of this award category is to highlight initiatives that foster a trustworthy marketing environment and consumer trust when it comes to green claims and sustainability, contributing thus to marketing efforts to address climate change.

As of 2025, a fifth category will be introduced: a Diversity & Inclusion Award, to celebrate ICAS’s partnership with the Unstereotype Alliance and to encourage SROs to focus more on diversity and inclusion initiatives in their country.

Moreover, a new Award has been introduced, the ICAS Special Recognition Award. This recognition is dedicated to SROs that have either delivered outstanding performance or have shown resilience or demonstrated exemplary commitment to advertising self-regulation by supporting regional initiatives or helped other SROs thrive. For this award, SROs cannot submit own initiatives, but can only be nominated by other ICAS members. The judging will take place by designated Executive Committee members and is thus an ICAS Executive Committee Award.

The Global ICAS Awards will be launched in November and the winners will be announced at the Global ICAS Ceremony in April 2023, in Istanbul, Turkey, during the ICAS Annual Meetings.

Find out here who the winners of the 2021 awards were and watch here all entries of the previous awards.