Top IR Strategy
We will award the companies that demonstrate the most effective overall strategy and best practices, including planning, execution and measureable results.

• Large Cap - $10 Billion
• Mid Cap - $2-10 Billion
• Small Cap - $300 Million - $2 Billion
• Micro Cap - $50 - $300 Million

Top IPO IR
We’re looking for the team that successfully navigated the difficult and complex process of taking a company public. Tell us how you handled the highly restrictive pre-IPO “quiet period” and the crazy day of the IPO and ensuing “lock-up period.”

Most Innovative IR
This award goes to the team/firm that demonstrates the most innovative approach to executing in IR strategy in the digital age, dealing with disclosure, investor/analyst relations and shareholder activism.

Top Social Media IR
This award goes to the team/firm that demonstrates the most effective use of multiple social media platforms to execute on IR strategy and communicate with investors, analysts and relevant press.

Top Corporate Governance
This award goes to the company that demonstrates best practices in balancing the interests of their many stakeholders, including investors, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community. How well is their corporate philosophy designed, spelled out, communicated and acted on?

Top Reporting
This award goes to the company who demonstrates the most effective and innovative reporting, including disclosure, analyst and investor relations and BOD reports.

Sectors
This award goes to the top IR efforts of companies in individual sectors, including IR strategy, reporting, website and governance. Sectors: Consumer, FinTech, Healthcare, Financials, Industrials, Energy, Telecom, Utilities, Materials

Top Investor Event
This award goes to the company with the most well executed investor event, including earnings calls and interviews, conferences and shareholder meetings. Give us examples of how your event(s) stood above the rest, drew crowds and created buzz.

Top IR Website
Is your IR website the go-to destination for investors, analysts and other stakeholders to keep up with what’s going on at your firm? Are you using best practices that are the envy of your peers? This award goes to the site with the best design, most effective organization and top analytics.

Top Crisis Management
This award goes to the team who demonstrates the best and most effective execution of IR strategy during a time of corporate crisis.

Financial Communications Plan
This award goes to the company who demonstrates the most effective and innovative FinComm Plan, including demonstration of the effectiveness of the processes and structures governing which information was provided and how individual units acted together through to final disclosure.

Top Annual Report
Did your team produce an award-worthy Annual Report? Tell us what makes your report stand out from the rest, from layout, design and interactivity to the nuts and bolts of the numbers.

Top Marketing in a Crowdfunding Campaign
Did your team execute a successful Crowdfunding campaign? How did you market it? Tell us how your marketing efforts broke through the noise of competing campaigns and helped your company reach its funding goals? You may be the Top Campaign of the year.

Most Innovative Crowdfunding Program
This award goes to the firm that faced significant challenges in the Crowdfunding market and came up with the most unique and innovative solutions to rise above the challenges to reach your funding goals.

Top FinTech Launch
Did you launch a FinTech product or service this year? We want to know about it. This award goes to the company with the most well executed launch. What did your team do to make it a successful launch, including marketing, investor messaging, PR and advertising?

Most Effective FinComm Content Marketing Campaign
This award goes to the firm that produced content that got the market's attention. Tell us about your process for creating, marketing and measuring the results of your content efforts.

Top Online Investor Relations Center
This award goes to the best Online Investor Relations Center. Tell us what you do to make your center the destination for investors and others looking for information about your company. What makes your center stand out form the crowd?

Financial Communications Plan
Entries should include as many details as possible of a specific strategic financial communications plan. The details should give a full picture of the goals, development and implementation of the plan, as well as measures of success.

Financial Communications Campaign
The top campaign will have clear, stated, measurable goals and results that prove that the financial communications plan exceeded those goals. Positive media coverage and/or positive investor reactions resulting from the campaign will be factors.

Press Release
Did your press release demonstrably change media perceptions of an issue tied to your organization’s financial circumstances? Include your press release with your entries, as well as links to resulting coverage and any metrics indicating how widely read and shared the press release was.

Newsroom
Indicate with metrics how your brand’s newsroom met the needs of financial journalists and/or investors, and show year-to-year growth in referral traffic from your online newsroom.

Analyst Relations
Demonstrate with specific examples how you have developed positive working relationships with research analysts and how those relationships have resulted in positive media messages about your organization. Materials and content used in specific analyst briefings are encouraged.

M&A Communications
Entries should be specific about a particular challenge faced by a team communicating a merger or acquisition, and how that team successfully met that challenge.

Top IRO
Is your IRO the ideal leader? Does he/she have clearly defined goals, metrics and analytics for measuring results? Does he/she acknowledge team member contributions and share success? If so, we want to know about them.

Top IR Team (in-house)
We’re looking for the top IR teams of the year. List all team members who should be recognized and provide examples of initiatives that achieved top results for your firm. Large, Mid, Small and Micro Caps.

Top Sole Practitioner/Consultant
Measurable success with existing clients, ability to win new clients and examples of successful outcomes (stock price increase, key M&A activity, etc.) are key factors in this category.

Rising IR Star
Who is the upcoming IR rock star at your firm. Give examples of when he/she came up with unique solutions to problems, went above and beyond to execute and otherwise demonstrated abilities that make them the IRO of the future.

Rising FinTech Star
Who is the upcoming FinTech star at your firm? Give examples of when he/she came up with unique solutions to problems, went above and beyond to execute and otherwise demonstrated abilities that make them the FinTech executive of the future.

Rising FinComm Star
Who is the upcoming FinComm star at your firm? Give examples of when he/she came up with unique solutions to problems, went above and beyond to execute and otherwise demonstrated abilities that make them the FinComm executive of the future.

CEO of the Year
This award goes to the CEO who inspires his/her team with a great vision and has concrete, measurable action plans to execute. This is the person who is absolutely vital to the company's ongoing growth and success. This is the person who creates a work environment where everyone in the company contributes to executing on a shared vision and who acknowledges the team's contributions and successes. This is the person you want to go to work for everyday.

CFO of the Year
Do you have the top numbers person in your industry? Is he/she the wizard of spreadsheets, metrics and forecasting? We want to know about them and why they are the CFO of the year.

Nominees will be judged on client growth and retention, innovation and the firm’s culture. Large, midsize and small.