Content Marketing Awards 2019: Lessons from the Year's Best Content

Why Awards Matter for Content Marketing Excellence

The Content Marketing Awards, produced by the Content Marketing Institute, stands as the largest and longest-running international content marketing awards program in the world. In 2019, the competition attracted nearly 1,100 entries, with an all-star panel of judges selecting the best of the best across 85+ categories.

Understanding what made content win in 2019 offers valuable insights into the fundamentals of effective content marketing--principles that remain relevant even as AI transforms how we create and distribute content. Award-winning campaigns demonstrate that excellence in content marketing isn't about volume or technology alone; it's about strategic clarity, audience understanding, and authentic value delivery. For teams looking to improve their content quality, studying award-winning examples provides concrete benchmarks for excellence.

The awards recognize all aspects of content marketing excellence, from strategy and distribution to editorial and design. This comprehensive approach reflects how modern content marketing operates as an integrated discipline rather than a collection of isolated tactics. The judging process itself reflects the sophistication of the field, with industry experts evaluating entries based on multiple criteria including strategic alignment, audience engagement, content quality, and measurable results.

Winning entries demonstrated that effective content marketing requires deep audience understanding, strategic alignment with business objectives, and a commitment to delivering genuine value rather than promotional messages. These principles transcend any specific format or channel, serving as the foundation for content that achieves both audience appreciation and business results. To learn more about creating compelling content that resonates with audiences, explore our guide on content angles for fresh perspective ideas.

What This Guide Covers

• The evolution and significance of content marketing awards in establishing industry benchmarks
• Key winning categories and what made award-winning content stand out in 2019
• Best practices demonstrated by award-winning campaigns
• How emerging technologies were being leveraged in award-winning content
• The role of original research in content marketing excellence
• Lessons from award winners applicable to contemporary content workflows

The Evolution of Content Marketing Recognition

The Rise of Content Marketing Awards

Content marketing awards have grown significantly over the past decade, reflecting the discipline's maturation from an emerging tactic to a core business function. The Content Marketing Awards, established in 2012, has recognized this evolution by expanding categories and refining evaluation criteria to match industry advancement. By 2019, the awards had become a definitive benchmark for content marketing success, attracting entries from leading brands, agencies, and organizations worldwide.

The competition's growth mirrored the broader adoption of content marketing as an essential component of modern marketing strategy. What began as recognition for innovative early adopters evolved into a comprehensive evaluation of content marketing excellence across industries and organizational types. This maturation meant that winning required more than creative execution--it demanded strategic coherence, audience understanding, and measurable impact.

The expansion of award categories from initial offerings to 85+ categories by 2019 reflected the discipline's complexity and breadth. Categories now span purpose-driven marketing, content formats, campaign types, and industry verticals, ensuring that excellence is recognized across the full spectrum of content marketing activity. Organizations seeking to build effective content strategies can learn from these award categories to ensure comprehensive coverage of marketing objectives.

The Significance of 2019

The 2019 awards took place during a pivotal moment in content marketing evolution. Digital channels were maturing, audience expectations were rising, and organizations were increasingly expected to deliver genuine value rather than promotional messages. Winners that year demonstrated mastery of these shifting dynamics.

Stephanie Stahl, then General Manager of Content Marketing Institute, captured the spirit of the moment: "The content marketing excellence showcased by this year's winners and finalists is remarkable. It's not just the level of creativity and innovation that's so exciting to see, but the success brands and agencies are having with their distribution, strategy and ROI says so much about how the industry has matured and grown over the years."

This maturation meant that winning required more than creative execution--it demanded strategic coherence, audience understanding, and measurable impact. The 2019 winners exemplified these qualities across diverse content formats and industries, demonstrating that effective content marketing operates as an integrated discipline connecting strategy, creativity, distribution, and results.

Key Award Categories and Winning Strategies

Purpose-Driven Content Marketing

The 2019 awards recognized content marketing excellence across several purpose-driven categories, including Brand Awareness, Customer Engagement, Lead Generation, Reputation Management, and Talent Recruitment.

Brand Awareness winners demonstrated how strategic content can build brand recognition and perception without relying on traditional advertising. The winning approach typically involved creating valuable, shareable content that positioned the brand as a thought leader while resonating emotionally with target audiences. Content that earned recognition in this category showed sophisticated understanding of how brand perception is built through consistent, valuable engagement over time.

Customer Engagement recognized content that fostered meaningful connections between brands and their audiences. Winners in this category created content that sparked conversations, encouraged participation, and built communities around shared interests and values. The winning entries demonstrated that engagement goes beyond clicks and views to encompass genuine interaction and relationship building. For practical tips on creating engaging content, check our guide on conversational blog writing.

Lead Generation showcased how valuable content can serve as an effective mechanism for business growth. Winners demonstrated that informative, relevant content can attract qualified prospects and guide them through the buyer's journey naturally. Rather than interrupting prospects with promotional messages, winning lead generation content provided genuine value that made prospects eager to learn more. Understanding effective copywriting techniques can help improve lead generation through your content.

Content Format Excellence

The awards highlighted excellence across diverse content formats, each with distinct strengths for achieving marketing objectives.

Video Content emerged as a particularly powerful format, with winners demonstrating how video can communicate complex ideas, evoke emotion, and build personal connections. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts won for "Take Your Time," exemplifying how brand storytelling through video can create memorable experiences that resonate with audiences on an emotional level. The winning video demonstrated that effective video content requires both production quality and narrative substance.

Audio Storytelling was recognized for its unique ability to reach audiences in intimate, engaging ways. Veritas Communications with Microsoft Canada won for "A.I. Meets World," demonstrating how podcast-style content could explore complex topics while maintaining accessibility. The audio format proved particularly effective for thought leadership content that required depth and nuance. As AI continues to transform content creation, understanding AI-powered content tools becomes increasingly important for modern content strategies.

Infographics continued to prove their value for communicating data-driven stories. Winners in this category showed how visual storytelling could transform complex information into digestible, shareable content that earned media attention and social engagement. The most effective infographics combined compelling visuals with substantive insights.

Blog Content remained a foundation of content marketing strategy, with winners demonstrating that consistent, valuable blogging could build audience relationships and establish thought leadership over time. Successful blog entries showed that excellence in written content requires consistent voice, substantive value, and strategic alignment with audience needs.

Emerging Themes in 2019 Award Winners

Technology Integration

Even before the recent acceleration of AI adoption, 2019 winners demonstrated sophisticated technology integration in their content strategies. Virtual and augmented reality content was recognized as an emerging format, with Stein IAS winning for the "SafeTug 360° Experience" that leveraged immersive technology for industrial marketing. This early recognition of immersive technology foreshadowed the expanded role that emerging technologies would play in content marketing.

Winners showed that technology should serve content strategy rather than drive it--technology was a tool for achieving strategic objectives, not an objective in itself. The most effective technology integrations enhanced content effectiveness rather than serving as novelty attractions. Data visualization technologies enabled winners to communicate complex information more effectively, while interactive elements increased engagement and time spent with content. For modern teams looking to integrate technology effectively, exploring AI automation services can provide valuable insights into current capabilities.

User-Generated Content

The awards recognized user-generated content as a powerful strategy for building authenticity and engagement. Discovery Education with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration won for "Operation Prevention," demonstrating how user participation could amplify content reach and impact. User-generated content strategies leveraged audiences as content creators and distributors, extending content reach while building community around shared experiences.

Successful user-generated content campaigns required careful curation and strategic framing to maintain quality while encouraging participation. Winners understood that encouraging audience contribution meant creating frameworks that made participation easy, rewarding, and aligned with campaign objectives. To learn more about leveraging audience participation, explore our guide on crowdsource content creation.

Personalization

Personalized content marketing strategies earned recognition, with Miami International Airport winning for "MIA Takes On the 2019 Government Shutdown"--content that addressed a specific situation with tailored messaging that resonated with affected audiences. This recognition highlighted the growing importance of contextually relevant content that acknowledged specific situations and audience circumstances.

Personalization extended beyond basic segmentation to encompass situational awareness and responsive content creation. Winners demonstrated that effective personalization required understanding not just audience demographics but their current circumstances and concerns.

Thought Leadership

Thought leadership emerged as a distinct content strategy recognized by the awards. AmTrust Financial won for the "AmTrust Opioid Prescription Risk Report," demonstrating how original research could position organizations as authoritative voices on important industry topics. Thought leadership content positioned organizations as experts whose insights were worth seeking out.

This positioning required consistent demonstration of expertise, willingness to address challenging topics, and credibility backed by evidence and experience. Winners showed that thought leadership requires substantive knowledge and the ability to communicate that knowledge accessibly and compellingly.

Lessons for Modern Content Workflows

Strategic Clarity Over Volume

The 2019 award winners demonstrated that strategic clarity produces better results than content volume. Rather than flooding channels with mediocre content, winners focused resources on fewer, higher-quality pieces that achieved specific objectives.

Modern Application:

• Use AI to enhance strategic thinking, not to increase output without direction
• Define clear objectives before creating any content
• Measure success against strategic goals, not production metrics

Resist the temptation to use AI capabilities to increase output without corresponding increases in strategic rigor. More content without strategic direction simply produces more mediocre content faster.

Research as Content Foundation

The recognition of original research highlights a principle that AI enhances rather than replaces. AI tools can accelerate research processes, analyze data more efficiently, and help translate findings into content formats--but the value of original research as a content foundation remains.

Modern Application:

• Leverage AI to enhance research capabilities and conduct research more efficiently
• Extract insights from larger datasets to fuel content strategies
• Maintain commitment to research-based content for credibility and differentiation

Enhanced research capacity can fuel content strategies with the credibility and differentiation that research-based content provides.

Distribution as Core Competency

Award winners understood distribution was not an afterthought but a core component of content strategy. Their recognition reflected not just content quality but effectiveness in reaching and engaging target audiences.

Modern Application:

• Integrate distribution planning from the outset
• Use AI to optimize timing, channel selection, and audience targeting
• Maintain strategic thinking about distribution as essential capability

Format Flexibility

The diversity of award-winning formats in 2019 demonstrated that effective content strategies require flexibility in format selection. Different messages, audiences, and objectives call for different formats--and effective content marketers can work across formats.

Modern Application:

• Match format to message and audience preference
• Use AI to help adapt content for different channels efficiently
• Prioritize quality and appropriateness for each format over simple repurposing

AI capabilities can enhance format flexibility by helping adapt content for different channels and formats more efficiently, but quality must remain the priority.

Applying Award Principles to Contemporary Content

Building on Fundamentals

The principles that made content win awards in 2019 remain relevant today--strategic alignment, audience understanding, value delivery, creative execution, and effective distribution. These fundamentals remain the foundation regardless of AI capabilities.

AI tools can enhance each of these areas but cannot replace them. Contemporary content teams should view AI as a capability multiplier rather than a replacement for strategic thinking. The fundamentals that separated award winners from the rest remain the fundamentals that separate excellent content from the mediocre.

Continuous Learning from Excellence

The Content Marketing Awards and similar recognition programs provide ongoing opportunities to learn from industry excellence. Studying award winners reveals evolving best practices, emerging formats, and shifting audience expectations. Organizations should also consider reviewing benchmarking data to understand how their content performance compares to industry standards.

Organizations should build ongoing observation of industry excellence into their content workflows. This observation can inform strategic planning, creative inspiration, and continuous improvement efforts. Learning from award winners isn't about imitation--it's about understanding principles that drive excellence.

For teams looking to build strategic clarity into their content operations, our guide on content marketing strategy provides a comprehensive framework for achieving excellence.

Balancing Technology and Craft

The 2019 awards showed that technology integration enhances but does not replace content craft. Winners used technology appropriately--virtual reality when it served the story, data visualization when it clarified insights, video when it communicated effectively.

Similarly, contemporary teams should approach AI as a tool that enhances content craft rather than replacing it. The human elements of strategic thinking, creative judgment, and audience understanding remain essential even as AI handles more routine production tasks. To explore modern AI tools for content creation, see our guide on AI blog website builders.

Conclusion

The Content Marketing Awards 2019 winners provide valuable insights into content marketing excellence at a pivotal moment in the discipline's evolution. Their achievements demonstrate that effective content marketing requires strategic clarity, audience understanding, and commitment to delivering genuine value.

These principles remain relevant as AI transforms content creation workflows. The fundamentals that separated award winners from the rest--strategic alignment, audience focus, quality execution--remain the fundamentals that drive excellence. For contemporary content teams, the lessons from 2019 winners offer both inspiration and practical guidance.

By building on these fundamentals while leveraging AI capabilities appropriately, organizations can create content that achieves recognition for excellence rather than simply meeting production targets. The awards remind us that content marketing excellence is not about technology or volume but about serving audiences with valuable, strategic, well-crafted content. This customer-centric focus provides the foundation for content marketing success regardless of the tools and technologies that emerge.

Sources

1. Content Marketing Institute - 2019 Winners Video - Official CMI coverage of award winners showcasing top content marketing projects
2. PR Daily - 2019 Content Marketing Awards Winners - Comprehensive list of winners across 85+ categories including grand prizes
3. Edison Research - 2019 Content Marketing Award Win - Case study of award-winning original research content
4. Content Marketing Awards Official Site - Official winner listings