It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Award season is upon us!

Nothing quite beats winning an industry award, so it is important to have the perfect award submission. But, at one point or another we have all experienced award submission fatigue. It is a challenge to find the balance between what you want to be heard and what needs to be heard.

It is a testing task for any organisation to try and write about themselves in a way that’s engaging and informative, but not overly salesy. This is where working with an independent third party at some point in the award submission process can be hugely beneficial. This is where we come in…

Take a look at our award submission do’s and don’ts:

The DO’s

• Do make sure your submission is clear and concise
• Do pay close attention to the entry criteria
• Do answer the actual question not what you want the question to be
• Do engage the judges- remember this is not their day job
• Do tell a story
• Do refer to the key words in the entry criteria
• Do use evidence- data sells!
• Do be creative in the way you use statistics
• Do think about the reader- this is a piece of communication
• Do talk about how you are better than your peers
• Do stick to the word/page limit- anything more will not be read
• Do use images but don’t let them take up too much space

The DON’T’S

• Don’t force the font size down to the point it is ineligible
• Don’t take credit for something you did not do- if you didn’t lead on the project don’t say you did
• Don’t talk about anything that didn’t happen in the past year as it won’t count
• Don’t get too hung up on the marketing of the submission- design is good but not everything!
• Don’t use too many acronyms
• Don’t use poor quality diagrams and graphs

 

At KBPR we have many years’ worth of experience writing award submissions. We offer a complete A-Z pick and mix of services that can be tailored to your unique needs. We have a constantly-updated industry awards planner, highlighting all the events and awards that may be relevant for you, to help you achieve just that.

Need a hand with your submission? Get in touch today!