Advertisers from all over Africa are now eligible to enter their work as part of the Advertising Performance Excellence (APEX) awards.

The decision to extend entry outside South Africa, to the rest of the continent, was made by the custodians of the awards, the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA). Entries for APEX 2008 will be accepted until Nov. 16.

“We are very excited about this development as this increases the variety and hopefully depth of entrants and marks a new era for the awards which we believe have been growing since inception in 1995,” ACA CEO Zandile Nzalo is quoted as saying by BizCommunity Africa.

APEX awards are marketing awards that examine all aspects of marketing campaigns, aiming to find which campaigns are most effective, and what makes them effective.

Nzalo told BizCommunity Africa that the “future of the advertising industry is hinged on proving” which concepts from the continent “ultimately aid the profitability of our clients.”