There is a real skill to writing a successful award entry. In this article, we give you some important tips that could help fill your trophy cabinet.
Get the basics right
This seems blindingly obviously but make sure you are actually entering an award you have a cat in hells chance of winning. The CEO may want you to win ‘most successful sales team of the year’, but remember you have to be able to back up your claims with firm evidence.
Read through all the award categories in detail and if you are not sure – ring up the award organisers and ask them what they want.
Who were the previous winners? What have they got that you haven’t?
Can you afford it? Some awards can be expensive to enter and then there’s buying the table for the awards announcements. Budget accordingly.
If the award asks for 2,000 words – write 2,000 words, not 1,500 or or 2,400. You will be penalized.
Meet the deadline.
Answer the questions
Well, we don’t really have a staff incentive scheme, so we’ll ignore that part and write about our recruitment process instead. No, no, no. You must provide relevant answers – refer back to read through all the award categories in detail. If you don’t meet the desired criteria – save your money.
Inject some personality
Our team not only meets, but exceeds its sales targets which means ACME Ltd continues to lead the industry. Really? Well what does this actually mean? Can you imagine how many award entries that say exactly the same old thing. Boring.
Who are you team? What are your sales targets – have they gone up over the years. Who says you lead the industry? Can you use graphics and imagery to highlight your points?
Don’t use the same corporate nonsense that all your competitors do and inject some personality and humour into your award entries.
Outsource
Recently, we wrote four awards for a client and not only did they get shortlisted in each one – for the first time in entering their industry awards – they won one too.
Writing an award entry takes time and commitment. Outsourcing your award entry to Republic Relations takes some of that pressure off. However, we will insist that you clarify all your statements, we will make you really think about what you are saying – and sometimes we will even have to tell you the truth. This is not the right award for you. Gosh – imagine that – a bit of honesty!