Of course, every award is different but here’s some golden rules that apply to all.
Preparing your award application
The process of applying for an award raises your business profile amongst the judging panel but you really should be laying the groundwork way before the awards are launched. This can be achieved by having a robust PR and comms plan to make sure that any interesting stories are shared with the right audiences – through your website, social media, press, radio and TV – way ahead of time. If the judging panel already has a favourable impression of the work you do before they even start reading your application, your early efforts will certainly have paid dividends. It’s also useful to line up the following:
- Boilerplate: who you are, where you’re based, what you do, who you help, and why that should matter to anyone not directly involved in your business.
- 3-year revenue and profit figures.
- Research that reinforces your services are needed. If, for example, you help people to retrain, you might want to refer to unemployment rates in your region.
- User testimonials.
- Results of customer surveys.
- Previous achievements and accolades whether they be awards or grants.
- Favourable recognition from governing, regulatory or accrediting bodies such as Ofsted or ISO.
- Memberships that demonstrate you are serious about having a voice within your industry or local community.
If you need help with preparing your award application or with any other aspect of the process, why not take a look at our Award Writing Services.
Submitting an award entry – the basics
Once you’ve determined which awards to apply for, there’s some rules of thumb:
- Read and re-read the guidelines. Is the Award category a good fit for your business? If not, there’s little point trying to shoehorn your work to meet the criteria. Check too for eligibility in terms of your size, location and industry.
- Heed the instructions. Each award will have specific guidance on areas such as word count (both on particular questions and on the submission as a whole); number, file size and type of attachments considered acceptable (e.g. photos, PDFs, screenshots); and whether web links or links to video are welcomed.
- Make note of the deadline. This might sound obvious but you can be easily caught out if the deadline falls at a weekend or is set for midday rather than close of play.
- Familiarise yourself with the submission process. If the submission needs to be sent via an online portal, make sure you can access it, understand how to navigate it and have factored in enough time if you have any unforeseen issues with Wi-Fi on deadline day.
- Set aside adequate time to capture the relevant evidence. Your application will not be compelling enough with words alone. Supporting evidence that may be required or that may strengthen the application includes: financial information, evidence that particular policies are in place; photos; screenshots; and testimonials.
Capture your evidence
Every Award submission should be supported with strong evidence.
Three questions to ask yourself:
- What do you do differently?
- How can you evidence that?
- Why should anyone care?
Which evidence you choose to include will of course be influenced by the questions you’re asked on the submission form.
Excellence in Customer Service could be demonstrated by customer retention rates; user testimonials; and on the impact on up-sell and cross-sell sales.
If you’re asked to evidence your impact on the community, you’ll want to cover your Corporate Social Responsibility. What commitments do you have in place to source and trade ethically? Can you cite particular fundraising activities? Do you commit support to a chosen charity each year? Are your staff encouraged to volunteer by being given time in lieu? Do you donate in kind? A potter may wish, for example, to gift some of their handmade mugs to a local hospice, a baker their cupcakes to the NHS.
Innovation can often seem a tricky one to navigate for companies that don’t feel they have invented a product. Consider instead the wider definition of innovation as the creation or implementation of a product, process or service that has improved, efficiency or effectiveness, or helped you gain advantage in some way.
Tell a compelling story
Whilst your submission needs to be written with confidence, it also needs to be real and human. If could be that your revenue or profit performance hasn’t been stellar. Your financial position may be better described as standstill or, even worse, in reverse. If you can attribute this to factors outside your control, you can still make a compelling case.
Award judges like to hear how real people have overcome real problems. Where and how did you start? How have you adapted? How have you worked with others along the way?
Beware AI! Unless you are particularly adept at using AI-Powered Writing Assistants like ChatGPT, resist the temptation to use them in your award application. AI examples are sadly too obvious in written work and are no match for an award submission written by those who understand and are passionate about the applicant organisation and its work.
Write clearly and concisely
One of the best ways to structure your writing is to jot down your keywords before you put pen to paper. Committing to no more than one idea per paragraph will make it easier for the judging panel to follow and digest your submission.
Meaning and impact can get lost in long sentences. Aim for no more than 15 – 20 words, choosing short words where possible and making sure every word counts. You can make your writing more concise by removing hidden verbs (verbs that have been turned into nouns). You might spot them as the words in a sentence that end in -ment, -tion, -ance, as exemplified by the following two sentences where a technology company describes its services.
Compare:
We help businesses to implement improvements to their performance through the introduction of clear business processes.
with:
We help businesses improve performance by implementing clear business processes.
Frontloading and active language
What is the most important point you want to make? Each sentence – and particularly the sentence that opens a paragraph – should start with your most important point.
Compare:
‘We give confidence to vulnerable young people trying to find work.’
with:
‘Vulnerable young people are given the confidence to find work’.
The second example puts the focus firmly on the beneficiary.
The power of three
Signed. Sealed. Delivered.
See it. Say it. Sorted.
You’re The First, My Last, My Everything.
Liberté. Egalité. Fraternité.
Whether they are song titles, national mottos or public information campaigns, there’s something about the symmetry of three words or messages that makes them memorable.
Where you’re faced with the question, ‘Why do you consider your business is worthy of this award?’, you might want to open your response with the three areas where your business has the most influence. A children’s coaching company might describe their work as ‘Empowering children. Supporting parents. Transforming futures.’
Enlisting the support of colleagues
If your application requires input from a number of colleagues, ask them to respond to the relevant questions in a bullet point format. This will help ensure you have the key points needed and can relay them in a style in keeping with the rest of the application.
Editing your award submission
When it comes to undertaking a final review before submission, you might wish to consider enlisting the help of a ‘critical friend’. Someone who is outside your business or sector might provide a useful external perspective and help you challenge where you might have assumed reader knowledge when it comes to technical terms or abbreviations.
Attending the Awards ceremony
If you’ve been nominated for an award, make sure you can attend any Awards ceremony. Even if you don’t win, it’s a fabulous networking opportunity where you can raise awareness of your brand with the organisation behind the awards as well as the wider audience. Make the most of the occasion by taking to social media to post about your experience of the event.
What to do if you win an award
Time to shine! If you’re chosen as a winner, make sure you capitalise on the opportunity for positive PR as much as possible. Share and comment on the organiser’s social posts as well as posting your own, include any badges provided on your website, email and in other marketing material, make sure you’re available if you’re asked to participate in any follow-up coverage, and commit a few key statements to mind so you can speak articulately when you’re asked what the award means to you and your team.
What to do if you don’t win an award
If you’re not shortlisted or don’t win on this occasion, don’t be too disheartened. Putting pen to paper to illustrate your business’s achievements is a useful process in itself. It can help communicate your journey in other ways, be they speeches, presentations or pitches to potential clients.
Make a note of when you might expect key Awards to open in the following year and use the time between now and then to capture any significant events such as the launch of a new product, hitting a particular milestone, expansion in a new market or adoption of a new way of working.
If not, why not?
There are so many businesspeople out there who are worthy of recognition yet shy away from applying for an Award. There’s an assumption that the approach your business takes – whether to quality, mentoring, staff empowerment, business development, partnership building, or your unshakeable approach to constant improvement – is somehow common to all other businesses. Why not let an Awards panel be the judge of that?
Looking for support on penning your Award applications? Drop us a line to find out more.