WHAT IF WE STOPPED CHASING TROPHIES AND STARTED CHASING PROGRESS?

Awards are great.
They’re shiny, affirming, and they look impressive in a pitch deck.
But let’s be honest: the real value of awards isn’t the metal — it’s the momentum.

It’s the learning.
The exposure to how other minds solved problems, broke categories, and made people feel something.
It’s the reminder that creativity isn’t a process — it’s a provocation.

And yet, every year, the same thing happens:
We pour time and budget into entries, rally behind a shortlist, then hope the judging gods are kind.
All while the people who’d benefit most from the journey — the next generation of thinkers — watch from the sidelines.

So we’re doing it differently.
Fewer entries. Smarter ones.
And we’re shifting some of that precious award budget to where it actually grows value:
Development. Exposure. Access.

We want our team to hear the talks, join the workshops, meet the misfits, challenge the norms.
To come back hungrier and bolder, with new ideas to test and sharper instincts to trust.
That’s how you raise the standard. That’s how you future-proof the culture.

Because the goal was never just to win.
It was to get better.
At making, thinking, collaborating — and delivering work that actually works.

Trophies age. Talent compounds.
Let’s invest accordingly.

SHA is a strategic advertising agency, creating brand strategy, advertising, design for print and content for web and social. If you want to know more, get in touch with nigelh@sha-agency.com or visit our contacts page.

“The opinions in this article are that of the author alone and in no way, reflect the opinions or viewpoint of the agency. Unless of course we happen to agree with those opinions completely, in which case they might, but otherwise they don’t”