2022 Email Excellence Awards: Submissions Are Now Open

Email is on the front line of engagement for marketers due to its effectiveness, according to Litmus’ 2021 State of Email Report. And because of that, we know email marketers spend countless hours trying to get it right—every time.

Well, now you can show off all that hard work—and get rewarded for it!

It’s time for the annual Litmus Email Excellence Awards where we get to recognize YOU and your team for your incredible efforts.

And just as email continues to change, so have our submission categories for this year’s awards.

So get excited and start collecting all the details from your most prize-worthy campaign of 2022!

Note: Unfortunately, this year we will not be able to accept submissions from people located outside of the US and Great Britain. This is not meant to exclude anyone, and we absolutely value all of the talented email marketers out there. However, with User Generated Content contests, the Legal Terms and Conditions vary broadly across each country and we couldn’t guarantee our terms would line up with every country. We hope to be able to work around this in the future so that we can include everyone from around the globe. Until then, keep up the great work, we appreciate you all!

2022 Email Excellence Award Categories

Last year, we gave out seven awards to some extremely talented email marketers. As requested by the email geek community, we’ve made some category updates this year we know you’re going to appreciate.

Did you have an exceptional email campaign in 2022 that deserves recognition? Read about the categories below, draft your submission, and submit to win!

Most Innovative Personalization (B2B)

B2B (business-to-business) audiences expect their problems to be understood and addressed with solution-specific communication throughout their journey. Email personalization allows brands to deliver conversational communication that appeals to prospects and clients as individuals, and decision-makers.

If you created a B2B email campaign that leveraged personalization with a great understanding of the reader and their business needs to stand out in the inbox, we want to hear about it.

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

How do you use personalized or dynamic content in your email?
How did you determine which elements to personalize in your email?
How do these personalized elements help you connect with your subscribers on a unique level?
What were your goals in using personalization?
How does personalization help achieve those goals?

This award will be judged in two rounds. The first will include a panel of Litmus judges and the second round by a panel of external email experts.

Enter to be considered for Most Innovative Personalization (B2B)

Most Innovative Personalization (B2C)

80% of customers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences. They expect to see content customized with their specific preferences and interests in mind, with every open.

To keep up with shifts in consumer buying habits and preferences, email marketers need to rely on data and customer insights to create campaigns that “wow” readers in the inbox.

If you created an amazing B2C (business-to-consumer) email marketing campaign in 2022 that gained excitement (and increased engagement), we want to share your success.

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

How do you use personalized or dynamic content in your email?
How did you determine which elements to personalize in your email?
How do these personalized elements help you connect with your subscribers on a unique level?
What were your goals in using personalization?
How did personalization help achieve those goals?

This award will be judged in two rounds. The first will include a panel of Litmus judges and the second round by a panel of external email experts.

Enter to be considered for Most Innovative Personalization (B2C)

Best Onboarding Email Series

First impressions are important. Your onboarding emails set the tone for what subscribers can expect from your business. They also define the next steps of the journey and encourage more engagement with your brand.

Show us the onboarding email series you’re most proud of that made a lasting impression and helped customers feel valued from the start. This is your time to shine!

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

How does your onboarding series clearly emphasize how customers can get started and find value fast?
Describe your approach for including clear CTAs and actionable next steps for your customers
How does your onboarding series shine a spotlight on your value proposition and overall benefit of your services/product?
How does your onboarding series share your appreciation for new customers?
How are you continuously improving your onboarding series? What testing, learning, and iterating have you done?

This award will be judged in two rounds. The first will include a panel of Litmus judges and the second round by a panel of external email experts.

Enter to be considered for Best Onboarding Email Series

Best Data-Informed Email Transformation

Data empowers you to deliver a more sophisticated experience for every subscriber interaction. By leaning on metrics to measure what worked (and what didn’t), you can continue to fine-tune your strategy to improve results for your business—and your customers.

This category recognizes the email marketers who dove into the details, refined their approach, and executed an email transformation with measurable success.

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

What metric(s) did you measure to improve your email performance?
How did you determine that was the key metric(s)?
How did you use this data to iterate on your email?
What results did you see from iterations?
What did you learn from this email that you will carry forward?

This award will be judged in two rounds. The first will include a panel of Litmus judges and the second round by a panel of external email experts.

Enter to be considered for Best Data-Informed Email Transformation

The Judges

The Most Innovative Personalization (B2B and B2C), Best Onboarding Email Series, and Best Data-Informed Email Transformation awards will include an external judging round. We will have help from the following four talented email experts to help choose the winners:

Alice Li: Principal Email Engineer at Zillow (Real Estate)
Shani Nestigen: Senior Email Developer at Target (Retail)
Mark Robbins: Email Designer / Developer / Engineer at Salesforce (Software)
Lisa Wester: Senior Email & Marketing Automation Manager at Emerson (Manufacturing)

Litmus Choice: Best Email Design (B2B)

Email marketers strive to make a human connection through design for every campaign. With each email creation, they must consider a list of important factors such as rendering, accessibility, and emerging trends.

This award lets you show off an email design you’re truly passionate about—and that had people talking long after they left the inbox.

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

Does the email have a clear layout and hierarchy?
If applicable, does the email have enticing imagery?
Does it use easy-to-read fonts and typography?
Are there clear calls-to-action?
Is the email accessible?

This award will be judged in two rounds. The first will include a panel of Litmus judges and the second round by the Litmus email community. (Stay tuned for the announcement in Litmus Weekly on November 3, 2022).

Enter to be considered for Best Email Design (B2B)

Litmus Choice: Best Email Design (B2C)

Designing an email that inspires action and checks all the boxes to reach every audience can be a tall task. But we know many of you out there have mastered the art of email design for B2C customers in 2022.

If this sounds like you (or your team), send us your proudest creation to be eligible for the best email design award (B2C).

This category will be judged on the following criteria:

Does the email have a clear layout and hierarchy?
If applicable, does the email have enticing imagery?
Does it use easy-to-read fonts and typography?
Are there clear calls-to-action?
Is the email accessible?

Enter to be considered for Best Email Design (B2C)

How to submit your prized email:

Review the requirements. Please review the specific requirements thoroughly for each award before submission. You can only submit one entry, so choose wisely.
Draft your entry before submitting the form. Once you begin your submission, you will have one week to go back in to complete the form. Be sure you have everything ready before getting started!
Share your work. Include a title for your entry and a link to the email campaign so that our judges are able to review. You can use the “view in browser” link or a tool like Scope.
Read the official rules. The Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia (“D.C.”) Check out the Official Terms and Conditions for all the details.

Ready to submit?

Our panel of internal and external judges are looking forward to seeing what you’ve created this year! To be considered, all submissions must be received by 11:59 pm ET on October 30th.

We’ll review all entries and announce the winners for each category on December 7, 2022.

Winners will receive a trophy, as well as a gift of their choosing up to a $250 USD value. The gift will be chosen through our Alyce gifting portal. There are hundreds of gifts to choose from including an Apple TV, Nest Outdoor Camera, Yeti and Patagonia gear, various subscription boxes, and much more.

Best of luck and we can’t wait to see what amazing creations you’ve come up with for 2022!

Most Innovative Personalization (B2B) Submission

Most Innovative Personalization (B2C) Submission

Best Onboarding Email Series Submission

Best Data-Informed Email Transformation Submission

Best Email Design (B2B) Submission

Best Email Design (B2C) Submission

Maria Coleman

Maria Coleman was a Senior Content Marketing Manager at Litmus