How to write a winning award submission

I've written numerous award submissions. I've also been an awards judge. So I know exactly how to write submissions that will maximise your chances of success.

Here are my top five tips:

1. Be specific. Don't say “I had an amazing year.” Say “I increased sales by 32.6% year-on-year.”

1. Substantiate your claims. If you say you did great marketing, share the details of a specific campaign and the specific results it achieved.

1. Repeat the question in your opening sentence. So if you're asked “How did you grow your business last financial year?”, your answer should start like this: “The way I grew my business last financial year was by doing X, Y and Z.”

1. Stay on topic. Don't include information that isn't directly relevant to the question.

1. Be concise. Just because you're given 400 words to answer a question, doesn't mean you need to use all of them.

Good award submissions vs bad submissions

Good award submissions give direct answers to direct questions. They're concise and precise. And they're easy to understand.

Bad submissions tend to be filled with irrelevant details and vague, unsubstantiated statements, which makes them hard for judges to read and assess.

Winning an award would be extraordinary, but merely being named as a finalist would differentiate you from 99% of your rivals. If you need help writing a high-quality award submission, contact me on nick@hunterandscribe or 0404 638 781.