The art of the award entry: a judge's perspective

2022 is coming to an end, we've just finished an full on award season (What an amazing one it's been!). This year marks my second year running as an award judge. I have been sitting on both sides: leading a marketing team submitting entries and been a judge to awards. It's been very insightful, so I thought I’d share some tips to marketeers and entrepreneurs alike who will put their companies forward for awards.?

Winning awards is extremely positive for your brand and reputation, and can open a myriad of opportunities: investment, partnership, PR, sales.

But how do you crack the code of a good award entry??

Sitting on both sides, a marketing director and a judge - awards are time consuming. From a judge perspective, you have to go through hundreds of entries, but you also have to do your own day to day job. Some of these entries are good, some are not so good, I love reading them and I have noticed some commonalities of those I love the most and end up scoring higher.

So, here are some tips for your next awards submission.

First things first…..

It’s important to remember that your award entry will be read and judged by humans, not some sort of algorithm. That means you need to be human.?

Keep in mind that judges have hundreds of entries to look at, and often, this won’t be their main job. If they spend an hour on each entry – think how long judging an entire category of awards could be!

That’s why you should put maximum effort into your entry. Just copying and pasting the same thing across multiple submissions, or not putting enough information in the entry because it's available online, isn’t the best way to show respect to the judges and their time.

Start strong

An interesting hook right at the start can set you apart from the other entries. Perhaps it could be a quote from a customer or from some press coverage that reinforce the message you want to put accross? This is especially important if you’re entering an award that doesn’t have a set criteria. In these cases, you’ll be judged on your contribution, impact, and what sets you apart from the other submissions. Be bold and creative in the story that you tell – pay close attention to the language you use and the way you write.?

Answer the criteria

For those awards where there is a criteria – I can’t stress enough how important it is to read it and match up to it.?

I know – it sounds so simple, right? But trust me, it’s probably the most common mistake I see. You could spend days writing up your entry, but if your answers don’t match up to what the judges are looking for, it’s a pointless exercise.

Read and reread the criteria very carefully. Make sure you answer the specific questions that are being asked of you. Most submission packs will give you recommendations, so make use of these as they can be a massive help.

Once you’ve written your submission – read the criteria one last time and compare it to your answers. Does it read well and have you answered the questions fully? If yes, you’re good to go!

Show your impact

Simply putting together paragraphs of all the good things you’ve done isn’t going to cut it. What the judges also want to know is the end result.

Think of it like reporting on a rugby game. Yes, you can talk about all the great moves that were made, and all the exciting action – but every match report also needs to have the final score!

For example, if you’re putting yourself forward for a great marketing campaign you ran, you could go into detail about the number of leads it generated. This shows that what you did wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It had a proper impact.

Provide evidence

As judges, we love facts and figures!

There needs to be evidence to back up everything you’re saying about the impact you had. If you don’t have any, then you should probably avoid entering the award as your chances of success are less than slim.

Remember, your own time is super valuable as well – so go for the awards where you actually have a chance of success. In other words, go for the ones where you know you have evidence to back up what you’re saying.

Avoid buzzwords

Yes, there’ll be instances where you need to use some industry jargon. But remember, you’re supposed to be selling your achievements and telling a story. Try to connect on a human level (remember the first point?) and resist the temptation to sound overly corporate.

Don’t use external material as a crutch

There’ll usually be opportunities for you to add supporting material – but the key is in the word “supporting”. This is an add-on. The most important part of your entry is in the main submission, so avoid just pointing people in the direction of the supporting material.

Judges don’t like constantly reading things like “As shown on Appendix A”. Put the effort in and tell us what you did, concisely and compellingly in your own words!

The checklist for a good entry:?

• It tells a story. A good story contains: A scene setter and the problem or opportunity, how you tackled it (the good the bad and the ugly), what the result was and what people said about it.?
• It answers the criteria
• It's short and snappy - takes less than 10 minutes to read
• It does not contain jargon
• It is supported by evidence

However, if you tick any of these, you’ll be less likely to win:

• It goes over the word count or is long to read
• It asks judges to click or visit another website for more information
• It does not answer the question or criteria
• It does not have concrete evidence or data.?

I hope you'll find this useful, it's been a pretty good exercise for myself personally to have been in the shoes of a judge to finesse the recipe for a good entry.

If you have any questions feel free to let me know in the comment below.?