ARC Awards Category Descriptions

ARC Awards: Excellence in Annual Reports















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CATEGORY CLARIFICATIONS
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OVERALL PRESENTATION

Traditional Annual Report: Vertical format, standard paper size, and perfect bound, with full financials which have been typeset, including charts and graphs.

Non-Traditional A.R.: Anything else! Horizontal format, oversize, digest size, spiral bound, saddle-stitched, two parts, hardcover; designed as a calendar, comic book, game board, magazine, tabloid; written as a novel, in poetry, as a play, as parody; and any other creative, novel or imaginative approach.

A.R. with Form 10-K (Form 20-F for Europe): Traditional or Non-Traditional book wherein the financials are simply a reprinting of the company's SEC filings. The words "Form 10-K" appear on the 1st page of the financials which are usually printed on inexpensive paper, no special typesetting, graphs or charts. May be perfect bound within the annual report or as a separate document inserted in a pocket folder, or otherwise attached.

Specialized Annual Reports: Not an annual report, but a corporate report published once a year which could include Community Benefits Books, Diversity Reports, Guidebooks, Social and Public Responsibility Reports, Sustainability Reports and Trend Reports, among others.

Summary Annual Report: A traditional or non-traditional book without full financial reporting, usually with just a few pages of financial highlights.

Off-Calendar and Late Published A.R.s: 2009 books are accepted for companies and non-profit organizations that report off-calendar or publish late. The 2009 annual report must be the current one available. (You may not submit both a 2009 book and a 2010 book!)

Non-English A.R.: May be any of the above, but completely written in the native language, with no English translation either in the annual report or separately provided.