What makes a killer award entry?
Nikki Rogan, Global Procurement Travel Director at Fujitsu winning Travel Buyer of the Year Award at the Business Travel Awards Europe.
Winning an industry award can bring huge credibility to your business, generate new business opportunities and show your team they are valued. But first, you have to win. And you can’t win without entering.
At Big Top, we’re in an interesting position when it comes to awards. Not only do we write lots of entries for clients, but we also work with awards programmes - like Retail Week Awards - so we see what entries make the judges’ eyes light up, what metrics they want to see, what can tip an award from the ‘Highly Commended’ pile to a win.
Recent wins for us include Nikki Rogan, Global Procurement Travel Director at Fujitsu (we wrote this on behalf of CTM) who won the Travel Buyer of the Year Award category at the Business Travel Awards Europe on 30 October. She emailed us to say…
“Thank you to you for putting together an excellent submission, I am so grateful.”
We also wrote the submission that helped CTM bring home the Best OBT category in this year’s Business Travel Sustainability Awards Europe.
So, how do we get those awards over the line? Here are some insider tips…
Put the judges first
Think about how many entries the judges will have to read before they get to yours and how you can make life easier for them. Keep your entries short, sharp and snappy. And - above all - tell a story. Awards are given to people, so create that human connection through your words.
Leave enough time
Some award entries are lengthy and time-consuming and there’s nothing worse than leaving an entry right up until the deadline to rush through it. Detail will be missed, and it won’t be the entry your work deserves. It’s always best to be of the mind that it will take longer than you think!
Stick to the criteria
Every award criteria is different and the way you wrote an entry for one may not necessarily work for another. Plus, if you’re just writing what you did and the results you achieved without properly reading the criteria, you may be missing out on crucial information the judges are asking for (and including things they’re not!). One tip is to repeat words from the criteria in your entry - this creates a connection with the judges and helps you ensure you’ve included everything they want to see.
Front-load
Award entries can be long, and you want to hold the judges’ attention. Imagine the judges only really pay attention to the first paragraph before drifting off. So, structure your award so that the results and impact appear at the top, then tell them how you did it. It shouldn’t read like an introduction to a story with a conclusion at the end. And don’t be scared to use bullet points to highlight metrics. Anything that makes your content easier to read and understand is a good thing.
Include testimonials
Don’t underestimate the power of a good reference. Some award entries include a separate area for testimonials, and some you can include within the body of your entry. Hearing about the real-world impact on people and businesses can give your entry a results-driven boost that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
There’s plenty more where that came from, but we can’t reveal too many of our secrets! So, if you’re interested in getting those award-winning campaigns the recognition they deserve or need a bit of help, give us a shout at:
charlie@bigtop-pr.co.uk.