10 Top Tips for Crafting an Award-Winning Entry: How to Gather Compelling Evidence of Success
Award's entry season is upon us, and it's time to start pulling together your entries.
From my past experience, we'd often be well-planned in about November or December to get our entries ready, but it would always be about mid-January before we'd pick it up again and rush around for a few weeks to get our entries finalized.
More often than not, the biggest hurdles were getting our events clients to provide stats and quotes that we could share and... getting clients to provide stats and quotes that we can share. Every company I speak to has the same issues. It's not for lack of willing by an organiser, but often, they need approval to share relevant stats or the "secret sauce" of what was delivered at their event that makes your entry stand out.
Proof makes a better awards entry
You need a compelling story of course, but without stats, it's just that, a compelling story.
Nothing beats powerful, relevant stats to back up what you are saying about the success of a campaign or an event
But getting these stats doesn't have to be a headache. Make sure your clients know from the outset of their project that they need to keep records of key metrics and interesting facts. Explain the importance of this and why it's not just "busy work".
To ensure that you have the evidence to back up your entry, here are a few tips and tricks for getting the best stats:
Ask your client for written feedback or surveys on their experience. This can be an invaluable source of information about how successful an event was and have your client or account managers ask and record this info throughout their event or campaign.
Utilise cloud-based systems to track the progress of campaigns and events. This will allow you to extract hard data that can be used in your entry
Make sure you know all the details of a project before submitting it for an award. Companies tend to over-promise in their story - you need proof to back it up!
Ensure you go the extra mile in your research and don’t just rely on client-supplied stats. Look into industry standards or best practices to compare against. The more evidence, the better!
From 15 years of experience in putting together awards entries to events like the ETL Awards, EN Awards or AEO Awards in the exhibition industry, here's some more tips that have helped me and my team.
10 Top tips for creating an award-winning entry:
Research the awards and criteria to ensure a good match for your project.
Don’t just enter for the sake of it - it will be a waste of everyone's time (including the judges who will dismiss your entry instantly - and likely be frustrated!)
Keep your entry concise and structured to ensure it's easy to follow, but still tells a compelling story about the project or event
Gather compelling evidence of success to support your application.
Create a detailed plan for your entry, including research, writing, and design elements. Allow yourself the time to do it properly.
Highlight key achievements in an organized and persuasive way - you could always use the services of a copywriter to help you...ahem...just saying.
Have someone else review your entry and provide feedback - this helps when you're too close to the project and can't see the wood for the trees
If possible, add visuals to illustrate how your idea or project has made a difference.
Follow the rules and guidelines of the awards - if they give you a word limit, stick to it!
Ensure that all deadlines are met prior to submission - don't miss out!
If you want to make more crafty content to help promote your business in 2023, you should check our 2022 article on How to write an effective case study
Creating an award-winning entry requires careful planning, research, and attention to detail. Gathering evidence of success is essential to back up the story being told and should be a focus from the outset.
Hopefully these tips will help you create an entry that stands out to the judges and has a better chance of glory come red carpet time!