As I had entered an album, there were nine songs I could choose from in the album. I decided to aim for 3 to 4 -minute videos with a clip of each of three songs in each. The reason for this was because I thought that there was a strength in the contrast and diversity between the songs, so I wanted to exploit this aspect. This became a feature of the campaign and I received some great feedback comments on social media.

I didn't go for any big expensive production on the videos, just a simple online video package, though they still took quite a while to source and make. Here they are (Youtube links)…..

To be honest, I've no idea how much impact they made during that April's voting, but they were a resource later on in the period May-July when the Judges Voting took place. Also, they were fun to make! Looking back to the previous year, I noticed that I had also done a similar thing with videos then (2024) although not so planned and sophisticated as 2025. That previous year, I won Silver with my album Stories in Time, so I like to think that the creative approach to using these vids actually had some effect.

As an entrant during the Judges' Voting  period, I always made a link to the Wednesday ISSA Facebook ‘call’ as well as re-post the videos to keep the visibility up. At no point did I contact or post directly to individual judges, as per the ISSA guidelines.

This year 2025/6 I have been a judge as have seen things from the other side. Again, during the April voting I didn't really see much other than photo stills adverts and the occasional selfie video, so perhaps there is still an opportunity for some creative videos next year. During the judges' voting, the ISSA Wednesday F/B call was useful and kept artists in the mind's eye of myself as a judge. Also, a few artists set out a special page on their website which was also helpful, as was the Finalists' ISSA playlist on Spotify. Some artists actually linked this to their own Spotify account which was also nice to see.

So, in summary, I'd say that as a judge my main focus was listening to submissions one-on-one, ie just you coming through the speakers and me giving it my full attention. However, your advertising campaigns certainly helped in certain artists gaining a visibility and familiarity, which helped when there were such close calls between artists for winning positions. It also helped me, as a judge, by giving some background and context to your entry.

Thanks to all entrants and everyone at ISSA for all your hard work. I'll be presenting in Atlanta on being a judge, and the feedback I've had from other judges in preparing the presentation has been how incredibly difficult it was, given the amazing high standards of songwriting, production and delivery. Well done everyone - great job!

Alan