GLOBAL: Top executives from Heineken, Telefónica and Twitter are among the judges Warc is announcing for the Effective Social Strategy category in its Warc Awards scheme, a global search for next-generation marketing effectiveness.

The Effective Social Strategy category is one of three and replaces the Warc Prize for Social Strategy which, for the past three years, has rewarded effective use of social media; the other two are Effective Content Strategy and Best Use of Brand Purpose. A prize fund of $30,000 will reward entries across the three categories.

Entry is free and papers submitted as effectiveness case studies are welcomed from any market or discipline. More information and details about how to enter can be found on the Warc Awards site.

The judging panel of the Effective Social Strategy category will be chaired by Quinn Kilbury, Senior Brand Director at Heineken US. His no-nonsense advice to entrants is: "Brands and their partner agencies need to figure out a way to be useful to people if they want to succeed in social. There are a lot of ways to be useful (functional, humour, informational, and so on). Choose one and then burn the boats and stick to it."

Joining Kilbury from the client-side are Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, Regional Digital Director, MEA, L'Oreal, Sona Bajaria, Vice President Marketing, Pernod Ricard, Roisin Glynn, Head of Social Media, AIB Bank and Kristian Lorenzon, Head of Social Media, O2 (Telefónica UK),

From the agency-side, judges include Mobbie Nazir, Chief Strategy Officer, We Are Social, Nick Burcher, Head of Social Media, MediaCom, Fran Cassidy, Founder, Cassidy Media Partnership, Barry Krause, Founder & CEO of Suite (LiveLab), Glen Kushner, Senior Strategist, Advanced Analytics, Converseon, Maritza Lerman Yoes, Social Strategy for Apple, TBWA\Media, Rachel Mercer, VP, Head of Digital Strategy, Deutsch NY, Kate Pena, Social Strategist, McCann NY, and Joanne Theseira, Managing Director, Publicis Singapore.

Finally, David Wilding, Director of Planning, Twitter UK, brings a media owner perspective to the panel.

Full details of all the judges can be seen on the Warc Awards site.

The paper awarded the Grand Prix will also win $7,000. Judges will also grant three $1,000 Special Awards: the Customer Journey Award, for social strategy built around understanding of the path-to-purchase; Low Budget Idea, for a content strategy that was effective on a budget of $500k or less; and the Live Award, for the best real-time campaign that has helped the brand achieve a specific business result.

The closing date for entries is 20 April 2017.

Data sourced from Warc