Haymarket Media is holding a contest leading up to PR Week 2026. This contest is meant to build awareness for Soccer/Football leading up to the FIFA World Cup. Students who participate in the contest have a chance to win a $ 1,000 cash prize and a trip to the PRWeek Awards Ceremony on March 12. The deadline to enter this contest is Friday, December 5, 2025.
As stated in the rules, anyone who was an undergraduate from December 5, 2024, to December 5, 2025, may enter the contest. The judges of the contest will be looking for:
- How can you utilize different platforms to get this messaging across?
- How can this campaign be targeted to increase support for the sport as a whole, rather than just the World Cup?
- What strategies, either from other countries or other sports leagues in the U.S., can be adopted in this campaign to make soccer more a part of American culture?
- What elements of this initiative can ensure the enthusiasm doesn’t die down after the World Cup?
- How would the campaign deal with the challenges of the event taking place across three countries that have “interesting” dynamics in play at the moment: the U.S., Mexico, and Canada?
- Tourism to the U.S. is down due to concerns about immigration and a negative perception of the U.S. globally — how will the campaign address this? What about the perception that some players and participants from certain countries will not be allowed into the U.S.
- What did the campaign learn from the experiences of the Club World Cup, which ran this summer as a rehearsal for the World Cup?
- How can the campaign make the most of it being American in 2026 while maintaining its legacy, history and roots?
If you have any questions, you can email Jackie McCreadie – jackie.testa@haymarketmedia.com
You can enter this contest through this link: PRWeek Outstanding Student Award