LONDON: The deadline for the 2014 Warc Prize for Innovation has been extended to Friday 15th August, with new judges from the US, Europe and Japan due to be announced shortly.

The prize, now in its third year with a prize fund of $10,000, is free to enter (details here). Submissions are welcome from any country, communications discipline and product category, regardless of size of budget. The only requirement is that entrants demonstrate that their case study of marketing innovation delivered meaningful results for a brand.

"Innovation is at the top of the marketing agenda, as brands look for breakthrough ideas that will deliver growth," said David Tiltman, Warc's Head of Content. "The Warc Prize for Innovation is designed to reward the brands and agencies taking risks, challenging conventions, and achieving real results."

This year, for the first time, the competition will name Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners. The Grand Prix, for the best overall paper, will win $5,000. In addition, five $1,000 Special Awards will be awarded to the best examples of specific types of innovation: product or service innovation, channel innovation, category innovation, tech-led innovation and co-created innovation.

Peter Espersen, head of community co-creation at Lego, will chair a judging panel that includes leading agency figures from BSSP, Cheil, Deutsch and McCann as well as senior brand marketers from PepsiCo and Unilever.

In 2013, the Grand Prix went to Art Series Hotels and Naked Communications Melbourne for 'Overstay Checkout', an initiative that increased hotel occupancy by introducing a flexible checkout system based on hotel capacity rather than a fixed time.

The 'Overstay Checkout' case study, plus useful tips about how to impress the judges, is available on the Prize website. Further information about previous winning cases and their common themes can be found in Warc's Innovation Casebook.

Data sourced from Warc