The Media Federation of Australia (MFA) has launched the 2023 MFA Awards, calling on media agencies to showcase work that lives up to the industry’s ‘We Are The Changers’ purpose, demonstrating best practice media thinking and long-term business growth for clients.
With the Seven Network back on board as the Grand Prix Sponsor, marking the 14th consecutive year of sponsoring the category, this year’s MFA Awards will be celebrated with a black tie gala dinner at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on 21 September.
The 2023 MFA Awards include the introduction of Channel Excellence categories for best use of channels across Screens, Social, Technology, Audio, Outdoor, Search, Retail and Experiential. These awards are in addition to the three category pillars of Outcomes, Execution, and People & Community.
In other changes, award categories have been updated to be more inclusive for all agencies, while entrants are also required to highlight the role of media in their entries and provide justification for why they are relevant to a media-focused awards program.
The NGEN Award, designed to develop the skills and recognise the talent of young media executives with less than five years’ experience, is calling on NGENers to respond to a brief for UnLtd charity partner MMAD.
Complementing the awards, the MFA’s industry-wide conference MFA EX: Media For All Effectiveness Expo will be held in Melbourne on 5 September and in Sydney on 21 September, leading into the awards. MFA EX aims to inspire and educate the media industry by highlighting global best-practice work, media innovation and cutting edge thinking.
This year’s awards are the first under the stewardship of new MFA Awards chairs Sophie Price, chief strategy officer at EssenceMediaCom, and Chris Colter, chief strategy & product officer at Initiative.
Price said: “The MFA Awards have been recognising and rewarding media agencies for their impact as The Changers since 1999.
“Without a doubt, they are the industry’s most credible awards program thanks to the rigorous judging process, which incudes automatic conflict filtering, independent auditing, blind voting and proof of media contribution, with diverse clients from the whole spectrum of our industry: marketers, media agencies, media owners and tech companies.
“The work of Australian media agencies is among the best in the world, and celebrating our achievements is an important aspect of elevating our work across the entire industry.”
Colter added: “More than just another trophy or a fun night out – although they’re that as well – the MFA Awards are the ultimate benchmark for best practice media thinking, celebrating the work that pushes us all forward and proves the significant business impact we deliver for our clients. We look forward to celebrating effectiveness and behaviour-changing work in September.”
The MFA Awards are open for entry until 3 May and tickets to the awards gala dinner are available on the MFA website.
The 2023 MFA Awards sponsors are:
Grand Prix Sponsor: Seven Network
Platinum Sponsors: News Corp Australia, Outdoor Media Association, SBS Media
Gold Sponsors: Ad Standards, Meta, Nine
Silver Sponsors: Foxtel, OzTAM, Yahoo!