You know the drill - these categories have been here for a while, but here’s ten top tips for project awards entries to help you along.
- Read the instructions
All awards schemes have small print, and it’s important to read it. If they say “please send us four hi-res photos of your project” then ensure that you do this. If you don’t, you will make it difficult to handle your entry, leave the judges without visuals when they are trying to shortlist to finalists and at worst, leave us without imagery to showcase your project at the awards event. - Hit the deadline
The awards entry deadline is not plucked from thin air, it’s part of a schedule for a large and complex process. Hitting the deadline will make everyone involved behind the scenes of the awards think well of you and will allow the judges the maximum amount of time to consider your entry.
Many schemes do extend their deadlines which has already happened for these awards but don’t rely on it. If you think you will need the extra time, you can ask, but don’t put it off until the day before the deadline. Being as early as you can will be appreciated and you are more likely to be able to get the extension. - Get the judges’ attention
Judges will be looking at more than one entry. Similar to when you turn up to a job interview knowing the panel will be seeing others, the same is true for your entry. On many awards programmes, the judges may be spending days reading through entries, often in their own time, so you need to quickly identify yourself as one they should pick up.
Make sure you break your entry down into statements, followed by the facts – break this up with spaces and/or subheadings. This makes it obvious to the judges that you understand why you are entering rather than densely packed type and few line breaks.
Always reflect back on the key results at the end of a paragraph to leave the judges with the message you want them to remember your project by. - Hit the judging criteria
If there is a ‘most important’ tip, then this is it. Read the criteria for the particular category you are entering (recognising that different categories most probably have different criteria). Then make sure you give direct, easy to find and clear to understand responses for your entry against *ALL* of them.
Ask yourself, does my entry have:
• Clear objectives and these are linked to the project / company’s overall objectives
• Are our achievements well defined and researched?
• Have I identified what we did well and what we could improve on?
• Have I noted down our health and safety processes?
• Was this project cost effective in relation to the level of success? - Don’t do it on the side
Putting together a good award entry takes time, effort and sometimes money. Allocate all three – if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Remember this isn’t just about you, it’s about your team. It is important that you bring your team into the entry. Put someone in charge, give them the information, resources, time and money they need to put together the best entry your organisation can manage. You don’t need to employ a special entry writer – feedback from our judges is that entries written by passionate, knowledgeable people who were close to the project are often more successful than those that were professionally prepared by someone who wasn’t involved. - It's about your employees
Let them bring others into the entry process. Don’t make this feel as if they are “away from their day to day” by doing the entry. Why? Because you may identify people with strengths you didn’t know they had, you will ignite a new passion in your employees, and you may find out that some of your employees are looking for their next step in their career and this could help keep them within your organisation. - Put people in it
People are great. They have faces, which look brilliant on award entries – include them in your photos of your project entry. Staff can embody commitment and excellence. Customers can say why you’re great in a single sentence. Use your own people, and your customer’s people to tell your story. - Look at last year’s winners
Why did they win? What did they do that singled them out as the winner in your category? What story can you tell, did they write an article about their win, did they celebrate it, what can you learn from their win to help you with your entry? - High resolution photo
Make sure you have included a high resolution photo that reflects the project. This will be shown on the night, it is important that it reflects the entry. - Finally, moving forward
Get that entry submitted, but while you are there collating and discussing the key information around the project, think about other categories you might want to enter. Did this project have areas of innovation? Who was the individual that shone during this project? This will set you up for other entries that celebrates the innovations and people involved and puts you in a good position to easily prepare award entries for other categories.
In the end, it’s not a magic formula or a checklist of standard things that will make your entry a winner. It comes down to the ability to tell a compelling story. Take us beyond your projects and tell us the impact you have had on the industry.
Remember the process of preparing an awards entry is a valuable exercise, allowing the celebration of people within your team that should be recognised. The impact that an entry into an awards programme can have on your team is huge, as it demonstrates that you value and take pride in a job well done.
In addition, the potential exposure gained from a nominated or winning award entry could bring you to the attention of new employees, new clients, new collaborators and new projects that may become future award entries of their own.
Now it is up to you to get started.