Each year, the Ontario Association of Broadcasters invites all Ontario MEMBER stations to enter their best station and staff work to be considered for one of four OAB Awards:  

• Community Service Campaign(s) Award – is presented to the station for outstanding contribution to worthwhile organizations in its community.  

• Creative Award – will be presented to the writer/producer who creates the best 30 or 60 radio ad that inspires action, evokes emotion and produces results for the client.

• Radio Sales Star Contest – is a chance for you to share your best and most successful fully integrated radio sales campaign with your peers and industry experts. Finalists will have the opportunity to present their case study at the OAB conference and compete for the title of Radio Sales Star.

• Station Promotion Award – will be awarded to the station that best promotes itself!  Promotions will be judged on originality, station benefit, goals achieved and impact in the community.   

OAB Awards Contest 

2025 OAB Award Entry Deadline:  October 3rd

Winning entries will include online components, be multi-faceted and focused.  Entries must have run on a member station during the current Broadcast Calendar.  Awards are presented during the OAB annual conference.

Remember to save creative to include with submissions to the OAB Awards each year. 

AWARD CRITERIA

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: • How the project was initiated and the objectives • Application of originality and creativity • Role of the station in the overall project • Investment of the station in production, airtime and staff involvement • Overall benefit, including how results were measured • Letters of support, testimonials or other recognition

CREATIVE AWARD: • Up to three commercials can be submitted per entry, one entry per person • Creative must be included with entry and have been written and produced by station staff • Entry must not exceed 60 seconds in length, and can be either client brand sell or PSA. • Entries will be judged on production, listener engagement, originality and clarity

RADIO SALES STAR CONTEST: • share your integrated campaign proposal on a pdf, video or ppt presentation illustrating: • Relevance: How well does the campaign address the client’s problem and goal? •  Creativity: How original and innovative is the campaign concept and execution? •  Effectiveness: How well does the campaign reach the target audience and achieve the expected results? •  Presentation: How clear and compelling is the entry in terms of communication and storytelling? •  The minimum 13-week campaign must have run on your station(s) between Sept 1 – August 31 • Identified clients’ objective with campaign and how it would be successful.

STATION PROMOTION AWARD: • Application of originality and creativity • Run Cross-platforms (i.e. online component) • Impact in the community, focussed • Multi-faceted (use of different station resources) • Promotion benefits to station, listeners, sponsors and revenue • Meets multiple programming goals