Entering or thinking about judging awards?

I recently took part in judging at the CX Awards. I have to say, it was a really good experience, through networking with other judges and meeting the entrants in my category and watching them bring their people experience programmes to life.

Hopefully the feedback from the judging panel will help the entrants with their future award submissions of which I have no doubt they will make (and should!).

Judging at these awards is made up of 2 things – a written submission and a presentation. All scores remain confidential, so judges don’t know the winner until they’re announced which builds anticipation for the judges as well as the entrants!

What entrants really need to think about may seem obvious when you read my thoughts, but these are the top 5 things I noted from this experience:

1)    Make sure you are in the right category for your submission! eg if you are entering an employee engagement category, make sure it is REALLY about employees and a programme being done with & for them, rather than something aimed at customers that employees are involved in. The latter would be better suited to a customer engagement category.

2)    Read the question and make sure your answer reflects this. eg 

i) If the question is HOW did you deliver the programme, a plan would be useful – something that shows the steps to delivery

ii) If the question is about impact – measures before and after would be expected (so make sure you have measures before you start implementation that you can compare to!)

I would also advise that you get your written submission checked by somebody neutral and ideally, with experience of writing tenders or business cases – they can offer advice prior to submission and ensure the answers reflect the questions. If your category is about employees, you might also want to ask some of them to review – as there may be more they have to say (and some good quotes to use!).

3)    Use photographs / videos – again these bring a programme to life!

4)    Let those who led the programme and maybe employees that were impacted be part of the delivery of the story – the presentation brings the programme to life and seeing presentations using various employees really did help to get points across well.

5)    This may seem obvious, but make sure you have a team available to present on the relevant day – and backups just in case!

Any further comments? Would be good to hear them!