Let’s be honest: when you’ve poured heart, hustle, and a few too many late nights into a great campaign, the last thing you want is to fumble your award entry because you chose the wrong category.

With 80+ categories to choose from in the Shorty Impact Awards, picking the right one(s) can feel like assembling IKEA furniture—there’s a right way, a wrong way, and a way that leaves you questioning …

Hot take: You don’t need a perfect, viral campaign to win an award. What you need is the right strategy.

If you’ve ever submitted work to an award show and didn’t win, it doesn’t always mean your campaign wasn’t good enough. More often, it means it wasn’t entered in the right category.

That’s where strategy makes all the difference.

Knowing how to position your work, e.g. what strengths to highlight, …

“It’s all in the storytelling”

Winning a Shorty Impact Award isn’t just about the innovation, creativity or strategy behind your project—it’s about how you tell your story. And writing a winning narrative is an art unto itself.

Below are key insights we’ve gathered over the years to help you craft a standout case study that captivates the judges.

It’s Not a Sales Pitch

A case study isn’t about selling your …