ONE of the UK’s leading digital advertising partnerships representing more than 800 trusted local news sites, including the Hereford Times, has teamed up with The Creative Shootout, the innovative awards for the creative industry, to launch The Creative Shootout 2018.

Formed by a UK media-first partnership between 30 of the UK’s longest established regional news publishers including Newsquest, 1XL is the UK’s largest source of premium digital news media audience, with a unique reach exceeding 26 million people.

The Creative Shootout 2018 is open to agency teams from any marketing discipline across the UK and the winner will receive a £250,000 media prize fund from 1XL to help stage their campaign, as well as £30,000 in fees from Charity of the Year, FareShare, the UK’s largest food re-distribution charity.

Entry to the award opened on Monday and runs until November 28.

To enter, agencies need to give the judges just ‘60 seconds’ on why they have the creative clout for FareShare.

The format can be any content; visual, video, showreel, app, audio or written – but it must be viewed, read (or digested) in 60 seconds by the judges. From there, entries are shortlisted to eight finalist teams, who go on to compete in the live head-to-head final at BAFTA in in London on January 25, 2018.

Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest, a founding partner in 1XL, said: “1XL will serve to communicate the winning creative and message to every corner of the UK through 800 trusted local news brands and a digital audience of over 23 million people a month.

“The Creative Shootout is unique with its real-time focus and our £250,000 media spend will hopefully make a meaningful difference to the issue of food poverty in the UK.”

For more information, and to enter, visit http://creativeshootout.com/ or call 020 7758 3900.