Winning An Award: Your Complete Guide To A Successful Entry
Have you ever considered entering your business into some awards but are unsure if it’s right for you? Entering and winning an award can be incredibly beneficial for a business. Not only does it raise brand awareness for your company and the products or services you offer, but it is also a useful marketing tool which should also give you lots of free publicity opportunities. On top of that, it will give your employees a huge morale boost.
So, we’ve convinced you. Now, where do you start on that award entry???
Our guide looks at the key considerations when writing awards and the top Do’s and Don’ts that will help your company become an award winner.
How Do I Choose the Right Awards Scheme to Enter?
Whatever industry you work in, you can almost guarantee there will be an award that is relevant to your business. Some are obvious, such as architects could enter a project into architectural or building categories while a marketing department might enter a campaign into marketing awards.
The best thing to do is head online, search for your industry and then look for the wide range of awards available. Make a list of all the ones that are relevant to you and find out what categories they offer. However, finding the right option for you doesn’t necessarily mean sticking to your own industry. Instead, look at your campaign, activity or project and explore whether other award schemes have categories within them that could be relevant. It could take time to do research, but it will be worth it.
How Much Does It Cost to Enter an Award in the UK
Once you have your list of awards you want to enter, look at whether they charge entry fees to enter. This can vary greatly, some are free while others cost hundreds of pounds. Usually, regardless of the where you work in, there will be industry awards that have no fee to enter so do your research and decide if the cost outweighs the potential opportunities if you win an award.
Aside from the initial entry fee, you might also need to consider the cost of an awards ceremony. Most award schemes announce a shortlist of successful entries and you will likely be invited to attend the awards dinner. Let’s be honest, if you do win, you want to be there to pick up your award and have your moment in the spotlight. But you should check if there is a cost to reserve a seat at a table. You may even want to reserve a whole table especially if you’re inviting external partners involved in the project or campaign – it’s a great way to cement the relationship and could bring you more work.
What will it cost in time to write the award entry?
The process of compiling all the necessary information and details to craft that killer award entry can be time intensive. If you’ve got someone within your communications team who is good with words, they can probably write it for you. Alternatively, look at using an award entry writing expert who will know the main points to look for and can probably get it done in half the time.
Finally, for some awards the process will invite you in for interviews with judges. This will enable them to get more of an idea about your team and project.
Remember, while the costs may seem expensive you need to remember your potential Return On Investment. If you’re shortlisted or win an award you should get lots of free coverage through the award host’s social media accounts. A lot in the awards industry also partner with magazines who will cover the event which will provide you with lots of free publicity. This will quickly outweigh any upfront costs you’ve had to pay out. Plus, this is great marketing material for your own channels – everyone wants to work with a winner.
What to Check Before Entering Awards
So, you’re ready to start with an entry submission. Stop! Before you get going with your awards submissions, there are a few things you need to check.
Don’t put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) until you’ve answered the following five questions:
When are the awards?
If you’ve never entered any awards before then you need to get your researching hat on. Take your list of awards and see when they run over the year. They might be open for awards, have future dates in place or may not even have announced their entry requirements for this year. If it’s the first two, you’re fine and can get these dates in your diary. However, if they haven’t announced their upcoming awards yet, you’ll need to keep an eye on their website.
Top tip – Awards tend to run at the same time every year and if they haven’t been announced it is fairly likely that the dates will be similar.
What is the award deadline?
This next piece of information is crucial – what is the deadline for entering! Miss this date and you will have wasted a lot of time for writing your entry form. Knowing what timescale you’re working too will also help you to plan out when and how you need to pull everything together.
Top tip – Don’t leave it until the last minute! Pulling together your entry submission always takes longer than you think.
What are the judging criteria?
The judging criteria are basically the rules you have to meet before you can enter an award. Fail to meet these requirements and there’s a strong possibility your entry will be refused. The judging process will vary for each scheme, some awards are only open to members while others require projects or campaigns completed within a certain time frame. They will also include details on what you should include within the entry, for example, you may need photos, examples of customer experience or performance data.
What are the award categories?
You know when the awards are but are there any categories that will suit your product or service? Time to take your list and note down which ones are relevant. Finally, go back to the award criteria. Does it allow you to enter the same product or campaign into multiple categories or does it restrict you to one. If that’s the case, then choose the category in which your product or campaign shines strongest.
Top tip – Take a careful look at each category. Apart from the criteria, each individual category could also include its own guidance on what the judging panels are expecting from the entry. Take a careful look at this, it will give you an idea of the judging process and help you decide which ones work best for you.
What makes a good award entry?
All award-winning entries – whether it’s a campaign or a project – need a hook. We get it, you’re excited about your project or campaign and all year you’ve worked hard on it but that doesn’t necessarily make it award-winning. Your writing style should look at what makes this project stand out? Is it the journey of the campaign or project? Has it delivered mind-blowing figures? Is there an interesting story to tell about the campaign or project’s process? If it’s a construction project, does it look outstanding? Tick this box and it’ll go a long way towards making a good award entry.
Tips for Writing Award Submissions
You know what awards you want to enter; you’ve chosen your categories and are ready to write the entry. Stop! Before you dive in, take a look at our top tips for developing a writing style that delivers a killer award submission.
Tip 1: How long should an award entry be?
Starting with a blank entry form can be daunting – how much information do you put in and what do you include? First, check if there’s a word count for each question. A lot of awards set a minimum or maximum number of words to include. Knowing what length of answer they require will help you manage how much information you need to source.
Tip 2: How do you start writing award nominations?
Get the question criteria information you gathered early and check this carefully. You want to make sure you know exactly what they’re looking for. Now it’s time for a brain dump by jotting down lots of notes (more than you’ll need for the entry) on everything you know about the project.
Now head online and research some of the basic information – this will help build your story. Finally, make a note of any information that is missing from the criteria.
Tip 3: Start Strong
Always start with a strong opening paragraph which explains very quickly to the panel of experienced judges about your project. Give a who, what, where, when, why and how for the project or campaign but avoid going into too much detail – you’ll expand on this later in the award submission.
A little bit of history about the project can also be useful for example, when writing about renovation work for construction awards give some background to the property such as when it was originally built and why it’s being repaired.
Tip 4: Fill in the remaining questions
Once you’ve got your strong opening, turn those rough notes into great answers. Don’t put pressure on yourself to get the first draft perfect. Start by taking your rough notes and cutting and pasting them underneath each question.
This entry is you, telling your story, make sure your enthusiasm shines through. Remember, these judges may have to sift through 1000s of different award entries.
If you don’t grab them and then keep them engaged throughout it’s going to be tough to get your entry into the shortlist category. As you’re working through the entry form, remember to keep checking back. It’s good to check that you haven’t repeated information and you’re sticking to the question requirements.
Tip 5: Detailed Information
One of the hardest things to do, especially when you work within your industry, is to include ALL the details. The more information you provide, the stronger your chances of success. For example, if you’re a roofing contractor entering a roofing award, you know your job inside and out and would probably be tempted to say that you installed the insulation, laid the membrane and then completed the job.
Instead, write down every detail, how did you affix the insulation, did you use the insulation to create falls, how did you bond the membrane, how did you finish on parapets etc?
Tip 6: Provide strong supporting information
An award entry isn’t worth the submission if you don’t have concrete data and information to back it up. Do you need to demonstrate your success in the project or campaign? For example, you might need performance evaluation data for social media content, photos to demonstrate work in progress or perhaps technical details about the project process. You could even look at including customer testimonials to support the success of your project or campaign.
Common Award Submission Mistakes to Avoid
DO’s
✔ DO – follow the guidelines. If the award criteria ask for photos showing work before, during and after – provide them. If you need to demonstrate performance, say for social media awards, add the metrics.
✔ DO – proofread your entry. The judges aren’t going to check that the grammar is perfect but, you do need to make sure you haven’t repeated yourself too much. You should also look out for glaring errors and make sure you’ve included all the stats and figures.
✔ DO – get client approval from anybody involved in the award entry that you will enter the project or campaign. The last thing you need is to upset a work colleague or client by having their name or product splashed all over social media posts.
✔ DO – read the questions. Ok, we’re taking you back to your school exam days, what are the questions on the entry form actually asking for. Have you provided enough information to support their criteria?
✔ DO – give yourself plenty of time. The deadline for entering may be months away but this is a time intensive process, especially if you’ve got to get permission from multiple parties. Giving yourself time to pull together a thorough award entry will not only reduce a lot of stress but ultimately result in a better entry.
DONT’s
✘ DON’T – forget to keep an eye on the awards website and socials. They will post lots of updates on deadline date reminders and if there are any extensions to those dates.
✘ DON’T – use lots of jargon and technical terms. If you get an industry expert to write your award entry, they can end up using lots of jargon. In most cases, you’re not impressing anyone and, if the judging panel don’t understand the information, it may not help your entry. Go for clear answers.
✘ DON’T – write down something for the sake of writing. Let’s just say it’s a case of quality over quantity. Going long on your descriptions doesn’t necessarily make the entry more impressive and sometimes saying the main points in fewer words can have just as much impact.
✘ DON’T – we’ve said it once and we’ll say it again DO NOT IGNORE THE CRITERIA. In fact, read them, then read them again and then read them again. They are there for a reason and failing to meet one criterion can result in your award entry being rejected.
✘ DON’T – forget, it’s not always the biggest budget projects or campaigns that win and sometimes you need interesting or personal stories to tell. Get the basics right and you can still be an award entry winner.
Promote your award success?
Good luck with your award entry, hopefully, our guide has provided you with the tools you need to get your award submission through to the shortlist round.
Don’t forget if your project is shortlisted, or even wins, remember to shout it out loud and proud. Jump on those social media posts, add the awards logo to your website (ask the awards organisers permission first) and include it in your email footer. You can also turn the award entry into a great piece of content or blog post for your website.
Not only is this great for team morale (rewarding the people who work hard in your business) but people trust companies who can demonstrate their credentials. Winning an award is one way to do this and is the ideal way to help you win more business.
If you need some support with writing your award please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Aura PR Team or visit our LinkedIn for frequent tips and guides.
