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Lepere Elevate Award

Elevate your career! Marketing students are invited to showcase their talents with live or existing applied market research projects tackling real-world challenges. Seize this unique opportunity to demonstrate your skills, gain industry recognition, and forge impactful industry connections.

The Lepere Award, established in honour of the late John Lepere, is an annual celebration of academic excellence in Marketing. This prestigious award not only recognises the brightest future leaders of the industry but also offers a generous €500 bursary and the invaluable industry recognition that can launch a student’s career.

OVERVIEW

This exciting competition invites final-year undergraduate and postgraduate marketing students to elevate their careers by showcasing their talents through live or existing market research projects. The challenge is to address real-world marketing issues in the commercial, social, or charity sectors. This is a unique opportunity to demonstrate your skills, gain industry recognition, and create impactful collaborations between academia and the business world.

Each institution may nominate ONE student to submit a project they’ve completed as part of their coursework, which meets the judging criteria set by the Marketing Society of Ireland. Nominations should be submitted by a lecturer or authorised representative from the institution, with prior confirmation from the student of their willingness to participate. 

AWARD ENTRY FORMAT

Students will be invited to present their work in written and audio-visual format.

  • PowerPoint Presentation: Limit to a maximum of 20 slides, designed to concisely present the project's essential elements: Background, Methodology, Impact.

  • Pecha Kucha Summary: A recorded video where the entrant shows 20 slides for 20 seconds each, highlighting the project's key points and innovative aspects.

  • Personal Statement: Provide a brief statement (maximum 250 words) explaining why the project deserves recognition and how it demonstrates excellence in marketing.

JUDGING PROCESS

The judging process is as follows:

  • A three-person judging panel, consisting of the Marketing Society of Ireland Chairperson, an industry professional and an academic professional will mark each submission independently. 

  • Their marking will then be tallied, and the winner will be the paper that scores highest. Should there be a tie, the nominees may be asked to make a presentation to the judging panel.

  • In the event that the awards receive a significant uplift in entries we will call upon additional judging resources to assist in the process.

Deadline for submission is 4pm Friday 31st Oct 2025.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The judges will be looking for evidence of the following:

  • Clear articulation of the marketing challenge and the planning process used to develop strategic approach to address the challenge 

  • Understanding, explanation and analysis of the choices and options considered and selected for the project.  

  • Process flow and clear structure throughout the project 

  • Evidence of creativity, original thought, personal contribution and accountability

  • Evidence of engaging with client (s) organisation at critical stages of the project and especially at the presentation and explain of results and overall impacts.

  • Compelling conclusions that support strategic objectives of the project and next steps.