Please read the following to guide you through the submission process, from choosing a category, to creating your entry and making sure you know exactly what to include to give you the best possible chance of success. And of course, set you on track to achieve stardom in October. Good Luck!

Deadlines

All entries must be received via AwardsStage website by 23:59 GMT on Monday 31st March 2025. No further extensions will be permitted.

Payment Association members receive 3 complimentary entries. Non-members receive 1 complimentary entry. Any additional entries cost £100 and will be donated directly to our charity partner.

[email protected] will be in touch to organise this.

The judges

We have brought together a broad spectrum of independent experts, who either specialise in a particular field, or who have experience and insight into different aspects of the industry. View the full list of judges on our website.

The Judges will review and score all the qualifying entries, compile a shortlist in each category and decide the overall winner.

All judges of The PAY360 Awards are bound by a code of conduct covering confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and contact with entrants.

The judges’ decisions are final and there will be no opportunity for appeal, discussion or correspondence.

The judges will rely exclusively on the information provided by the award entrant and not by any prior knowledge that they may have.

The judges will be looking to see how the programme/product/service has been a success against the objectives, taking into account how it stands out from the rest of the market.

Entries will also be judged on how clear and concise the entry is. Please refer to the Categories section for more detailed information on what to include in your entry.

Judges will also have the right to make nominations that they believe are relevant and missing from the available judging selection, except those in any way connected with their own organisation.

Award entry criteria

Companies entering must meet the general eligibility criteria stated (view all category requirements here).

Nominations must be given with the formal authority of the company nominated for the Award, and while the same company can be nominated for the same Award more than once, duplicate entries are not encouraged.

Although the same company can make multiple submissions across the range of categories, each must be unique and tailored to best demonstrate its strengths in the specific category.

Image supply

All logos should be supplied as an Illustrator EPS or relevant vector file format. Please note that placing a .jpg, .gif or .tif image into an Illustrator file does not make the logo a vector file. We will be unable to accept a low resolution .jpg or image saved from the internet because these will not print properly and will not represent your brand in the best possible way.

Entrants and winners

Entry summaries of the finalists will be published in The PAY360 Awards brochure and the winners will be featured on the website after the event. In addition, if the organisers are approached by members of the press to feature case studies, their enquiries will be referred to the applicable entrants. Please ensure that you have obtained permission to feature material from external suppliers before submitting your entry. Third parties or partners should be made aware that the material might appear in print.

The small print

• All entries must be submitted via our online system.
• Entries require both a summary (200-word max) and a submission (1500-word max).
• The 200-word entry summary of shortlisted entries will be displayed in the Awards brochure
• Your entry will be acknowledged by email within 14 working days of receipt.
• Entries may be withdrawn at any point up to Monday 31st March 2025 by 17:00 GMT.
• Entries received after the closing date of Monday 31st March 2025 by 23:59 GMT will not be accepted unless by prior written agreement from the organisers.
• Entries will be disqualified if they are found to contain false, incomplete or incorrect information; or if they are not submitted through the online entry form. Entries made in addition to the FREE entry entitlement will not be counted unless a donation has been made to our charity partner.
• The judges reserve the right to re-allocate an entry to a different category if appropriate 

Submitting your entry

• The entry must be tailored to the specific category and the project you are applying with.
• Ensure that the summary does not include any confidential information which would be automatically published for shortlisted entries.
• Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents will be allowed as supporting materials to entries as uploads through the online portal but your main entry of up to 1,500 words should include all information you deem necessary for your awards entry.
• Read the criteria carefully and use the headings given to create your entry.
• Be specific, concise and give clear examples.
• Avoid general statements like ‘The programme achieved its goals’.
• Use data from a credible source and quote that source where possible.
• Include something to bring your entry to life such as photographs, marketing materials, graphs, charts and videos.
• Judges will assess entries on the main submission, not based on their knowledge of the company.
    

Six steps to submit your entry

Please follow these steps in order to ensure you submit your entries correctly.

1. Pick your category from the ‘Categories‘ section of the website and click ‘Submit your entry’.
2. Select “Register now” on the Award Stage website and create an account, this will allow for submissions to be drafted and edited before official submission.
3. Once an account has been created, select “Create Entry”.
4. Select the award you wish to make a submission for and complete all the fields, making sure to have selected “upload” to upload any files, then click ‘Submit’.
5. This will allow you to view your submissions a final time before offical submission.
6. Select “Submit” to offically submit. You will receive a confirmation email of your submission. Should you have submitted more than one entry, this email will show confirmation of all the submissions; please note that this may cause a slight delay to this email being sent.

Confidentiality

All material will remain confidential to the judges. Entrants may mark sensitive parts of their entry as ‘Not for Publication’. This will be respected in all instances by the organisers.

If in any doubt, please contact Kate McKenzie at [email protected]