Rules for Entering the Rally® Awards™

Please review the Entry rules even if you have entered in the past, as some rules have been updated for 2025. 

The Rally® Awards™ program is open to recruitment marketing and employer branding practitioners who work in-house as an employee at an Employer (“Employer”), and the technology vendors and agency partners that support them. Most awards are given to in-house practitioners, with two category exceptions noted below.

In-House Practitioners

Nominations may be of an individual or a team working at the Employer. For teams, up to 5 individuals may be named in the entry submission. You do not need to have a recruitment marketing or employer branding related job title to be eligible, and you do not need to practice recruitment marketing or employer branding full time either*. We know that many HR, Talent Acquisition and Marketing professionals now use digital marketing and social media strategies to attract and recruit talent, and your work deserves to be recognized too!

*For the Recruitment Marketer of the Year and the Rising Star awards, nominations for these categories must be working in a full-time, dedicated recruitment marketing or employer branding role for at least one year. The Rising Star must be in a full time, dedicated role for no more than three years.

When you submit your entry, please list your manager as the Endorser of your submission so that they can verify the information provided in your entry.

If you work for a staffing firm, agency or vendor, you are encouraged to nominate your customers (an in-house practitioner). If you do, please remember that they are receiving the award, and that the entry must focus on their work and accomplishments. In addition, you must list the nominee as the Endorser of your submission so that they can verify the information provided in your entry.

Tech Vendors & Agencies

For the first time, the 2025 Rally Awards introduces two new categories: Best Technology Partner and Best Agency Partner. These awards will honor a tech vendor and an agency that have demonstrated a true partnership in working with their customers (in-house practitioners) to achieve a measurable impact in recruiting. For these categories, the award will be listed with the company name.

If you work for a tech vendor or agency, you may nominate yourself, or one of your customers may nominate you. For these two categories, a senior person in TA/RM/EB/HR working at one of your customers must be the Endorser of your submission so that they can verify the information provided in your entry.

Read more about the Benefits for Vendors and Agencies.

Entry Process

Only entries submitted electronically through the Rally Awards submission website, that are complete and endorsed (verified) for accuracy by the deadline are eligible. The 2026 Rally Awards submission website will open as of November 1, 2025. 

Entries may originate from any country.

Entries must be for work that was published in the 2025 calendar year to qualify for the 2026 Rally Awards. If an entry was created in 2024 or earlier but not published or distributed until 2025, it still qualifies and may be submitted.

An entry may only be submitted once per category. For example, the Facebook channel of ACME Corporation may only be submitted once in the Best Social Careers Channel category. If the same entry is submitted more than once, we will accept and judge the first one that we receive.

However, the entry may be submitted to other relevant categories. For example, a Facebook post from ACME Corporation may also be submitted to the Best Use of Organic Social Media in Recruitment Marketing category. In addition, ACME Corporation may submit multiple Facebook post examples. But remember that a specific Facebook post can only be entered once.

Timeline & Fees

November 1, 2025
Call For Entries Open

December 31, 2025 midnight Eastern Time
Super Early Bird Deadline
$375 per entry + 3% payment processing fee and 3.5% judging platform fee

January 31, 2026 midnight Eastern Time
Early Bird Deadline
$425 per entry + 3% payment processing fee and 3.5% judging platform fee

February 20, 2026 midnight Eastern Time
Final Entry Deadline
$495 per entry + 3% payment processing fee and 3.5% judging platform fee

Only submissions with a fully paid entrance fee AND with a qualifying endorsement by the final entry deadline will be considered. There are no refunds. Payments are accepted via PayPal and Credit Card.

Winners will be announced in April 2026 during a Live Virtual Ceremony, hosted by Rally Recruitment Marketing. Information about how to attend the webinar will be announced closer to that date. Be sure to sign up for the Rally newsletter to make sure you receive information about the ceremony. 

Judging

Judging will be conducted by a panel of experts selected by Rally Recruitment Marketing. The judging criteria varies between categories but generally is based on quality of work, innovation and measurable results. For more information, see the rules. Judges are not allowed to judge entries that contain their own work or are deemed by Rally Recruitment Marketing to be a conflict of interest. Judges may change at any time. The opinions and decisions of the judges are final.

Return of Materials

All entries submitted to the awards program, including results data and work examples, become the property of the Rally Awards and Rally Recruitment Marketing, and may be used for educational and promotional purposes. Entries will not be returned. Do not send original artwork.

Winners

Multiple winners may be selected in each category, except there shall be one winner in the Recruitment Marketer of the Year category. We reserve the right to not award a winner in a category. We also reserve the right to combine categories or to move your submission to a different category. By entering the awards program, you hereby grant us the right, but not the obligation, to the use your name, picture, likeness, voice, address (city and state), company name and any statements made or attributed to you relating to the award (collectively, “Attributes”) for advertising and promotional purposes in any and all media including, without limitation, on a website owned or operated by us and in other promotional materials, without further notice, review or approval, and without further compensation, and you release, discharge and hold us harmless from and against all claims arising out of the use of such Attributes.

Awards

One Rally Award trophy will be given per winner and will bear the name of the winning practitioner and their employer. We will assume that the practitioner currently works for the employer which is featured in the winning submission. However, if the practitioner no longer work for that employer, please so indicate when the entry is submitted. If a team has won, the trophy will bear the name of the employer. Individual team members may request an electronic award certificate (up to 5), or may order their own trophy for a fee. 

Questions?

For questions about the awards criteria and judging rules, please Contact Us.

Note

Rally Recruitment Marketing reserves the right to change these rules at our discretion, and to combine, cancel or add award categories based on the entries submitted. For example, we may add new categories or sub-categories based on country, company size or industry.

GENERAL RELEASE

By participating, each entrant agrees that we and our respective officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives, shall not be responsible or liable for any losses, damages or injuries of any kind resulting from participation in the Rally Awards. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, we are not responsible for incomplete, illegible, misdirected, misprinted, late, lost, damaged or stolen entries; or for any technical malfunctions, failures, difficulties or other errors of any kind or nature; or for the incorrect or inaccurate capture of information, or the failure to capture any information. By accepting a Rally Award you acknowledge that we have neither made, nor are in any manner responsible or liable for, any warranty, representation or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to any Rally Award. If a dispute cannot be resolved to our reasonable satisfaction, the entry will be deemed ineligible and the potential recipient will forfeit its right to receive any Award. We reserve the right to modify, suspend or terminate this Award program if, for any reason, the program is not capable of being executed as planned or if we determine, in our sole discretion, that the program is technically impaired or corrupted or that fraud or technical problems, failures or malfunctions or other causes beyond our reasonable control have destroyed or severely undermined or to any degree impaired the integrity, administration, security, and/or feasibility of the Award program as contemplated herein.