Entry Deadline: All entries must be completely received by Noon on Monday 24th September. We realise that you all have busy lives (us too!) and that it’s tempting to wait until the very last minute. But please note that if you do this (1) we cannot promise instant replies to your last minute email queries on deadline day, (2) you are risking failed entries if you run into upload problems or your broadband suddenly goes down, and (3) there will be no extensions to the entry deadline and you will have missed your chance to lay your hands on an APA trophy this year.

Qualifying period: All audio content entered must have been first broadcast/streamed or made available to download in the period 1st July 2017 to 30th June 2018.

Entry fee: The cost is just £35 + VAT for AudioUK members, and £45 + VAT for non-members. You can register to be a member at www.audiouk.org.

Discount codes: You may see a 'Discount Code' box during payment. Please ignore it. There are no discount codes for the APAs. The member and non-member entry prices don't rely on codes.

Invoicing: If you wish to invoice for entries, you will be required to enter a PO number at the time of entry. Please allow enough time for this process or your entry may not be permitted. Following this, you must email pip@audiouk.org with your PO number, plus the amount paid and reference number. 

Inclusive meaning of ‘audio’: Unless specifically stated otherwise, every category welcomes entries from the whole audio world, which includes radio (broadcast via airwaves or online) and all podcast/downloadable/non-broadcast audio. For simplicity, we use the word ‘audio’ in this wide, inclusive sense throughout the category descriptions. In addition, the term ‘programme’ is used to include podcast/download content unless stated otherwise.

Content: All entries will be required to demonstrate creativity and excellent production values.

Judging: Our judges are a diverse group of people from across the audio sector. We will publish their names once all judging has been completed but we will not publish which individual categories they judged. All categories will follow the usual process of audio/written submissions assessed by judges except for the Gold Award.

Conflict of interest: We always strive for fairness and will allocate our judges to categories in a way that eliminates any conflict of interest.

Audio clips and written statements: The maximum length of audio clips is 15 minutes, unless stated otherwise and written nominations/supporting statements must not exceed 600 words.

One-off and series programmes: Unless the category description says otherwise, you may enter audio drawn from an ongoing strand programme, part of a series, or a one-off show or feature.

Body of work: Please remember that our judges are usually seeking to recognise a ‘body of work’ produced over the qualifying period. You can choose to base your whole entry on a single show, but it would need to be an exceptional piece of work.

Non-exhaustive examples: Many categories below give some guidance on the sort of programme topics which might be a natural fit for entries. These are not meant to be exhaustive lists of examples and all entries are welcome which fall sensibly within the broad title of the category.

Blind judging: We strive to judge all entrants solely on their production talents and to avoid any (un)conscious bias. For this reason, our judges will not know the names or companies of the people whose entries they are considering (except for Audio Production Company of the Year and on-air Presenter Awards). So, whenever possible, we ask you not to include information which identifies a producer in terms of their name, gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality etc in your audio clips or supporting written statement. We know this may not always be possible (e.g. Presenter Awards or Production Company of the Year) but we ask you to follow this principle wherever possible. In the case of gender pronouns, we encourage all written material to refer to producers as ‘she/he’, ‘s/he’, ‘he/she’ or some other commonly understood gender neutral term.

In case of doubt, we’re always happy to answer your questions:    pip@audiouk.org