With the entrance of AI and increased competition in almost every field out there in modern times, making your mark as a business has become increasingly difficult.

However, there is one way to showcase your expertise and credibility along with proving business excellence. Your business can win an award.

Here are some tips on a few ways to submit an award submission that can lead you straight to victory, or at the very least get you shortlisted!

What are the benefits of entering industry awards?

There are several reasons businesses enter industry awards:

1. Recognition and prestige: Winning an industry award can bring prestige and recognition to a business. It can demonstrate that the business is highly regarded in its industry. It can be an effective way to showcase company achievements and successes.

2. Employee motivation and morale: Entering awards can be an excellent way to motivate and inspire staff, and it can boost morale within the company. Employees can take pride in the fact that their company is recognised for its achievements.

3. Networking opportunities: Entering industry awards can provide businesses with opportunities to network with other companies and individuals within their industry. This can lead to valuable connections and potential partnerships.

4. Marketing and publicity: Winning an award can be a very effective marketing tool, as it can raise the profile of a business and generate positive publicity. It can also help differentiate a business from its competitors.

While entering industry awards can bring a range of benefits, there is no guarantee that it will attract new clients. However, winning an award can certainly help enhance a company's reputation and increase its visibility within its industry. This could lead to new business opportunities in the long run.

Create an awards strategy

The first step is to create an awards strategy, which is a plan or approach used to identify and apply for relevant awards in your target industry or business sectors.

It involves researching various industry awards and determining which ones align with your business' achievements and goals. It also involves strategising how to craft a competitive application. An awards strategy aims to increase the chances of recognition or prestige in a specific area of expertise.

After your research, you will probably have found numerous potential awards relevant for your business. However, pursuing all of them at once would mean developing an awards strategy with a limited focus.

In theory, there is no limit to the number of awards you can apply for. However, there is the cost to factor in, and the risk you could end up submitting lots of low-quality entries.

Instead, you could research the awards won by your direct competitors in the past. This should give you a better idea of the awards that cater to your target market.

Remember, an awards strategy is key! Without it, you may fail to highlight to the judging panel what makes your business stand out from the crowd.

Choose the right category

To enter awards you need to determine the categories of the awards you want to compete in. It could be for your entire business or a specific project that you are proud of.

To make this decision, you need to consider a variety of factors. For example, if you are looking to strengthen your relationship with partner companies, you could choose a project you did with them. However, be aware that you may have to share credit with them.

You may find it helpful to discuss the award entry and criteria with your team. This will enable you to secure some alternative perspectives that may highlight more suitable categories.

You should also choose a project or initiative that has been in operation for at least a year.

Awards judges usually have a set of criteria to ensure that their decision is based on tangible results rather than forecasts/projections. When writing your award entry, it is important to keep in mind what the judges are looking for.

Follow the entry criteria

After planning and strategising, you will have to write and submit your award entry.

Every award should have a specific judging criterion and it is worthwhile to understand the entry criteria you are writing about. You do not want to write about your employees' satisfaction when the criteria is focused on profit margins.

If you are applying to multiple awards that appear similar, diving into the details of the criteria will help you find at least a few small differences. Based on this, you should tailor your application. A one-size fits all approach is not the best way to give your business the recognition it deserves.

Ideally, you should work with your team on this review process. They can help apply the specific criteria to your organisation and give you the details or refer you to employees with the relevant information.

By explicitly addressing the specific criteria, you make the judging panel's life easier. They can easily rank you for each criterion as you bring them up. Ultimately, this means that your award entry will be well-structured and easy to follow.

Tell your story

Storytelling should be an important part of writing a winning award entry, helping the judges to understand the context, challenges and impact of the project or initiative.

For the best chance of this, you need to contact the relevant personnel in your organisation in the early stages of writing your entry. This way you can actively follow up and work with them to uncover details about your business that portray it in the most positive light.

Remind your team that it may be your job to produce a killer award entry, but a company award is a win for everyone!

With this information, writing an award-winning entry is not too different from writing a compelling story. Have a clear structure with a beginning, body, and conclusion.

Create an intriguing but factual story about your successes and failures, so that you leave a memorable impression.

Just like writing a story, you can walk the extra mile by getting to know your target audience.

Whether meeting them personally or through online research, knowing your judges will help you write a winning entry that resonates with them. For a judge with a history of awarding serious entries, note that you shouldn't use a playful tone.

Be aware of the word count while writing. If everybody exceeds it, the judges would not have enough time to make a decision by the deadline date. So, you may have created an excellent entry, but you will be heavily penalised. The key is to write a piece that is concise and communicates a wealth of detail in fewer words.

Make your claim and prove it

An award-winning entry should also have measurable results that demonstrate the impact of the project or initiative. Judges will look for evidence of tangible outcomes and results that support the claims and points made in the entry.

Usually, winning award entries are filled with measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This is just one of the reasons why judges prefer to award applications from projects that have been live for a sufficient amount of time. It allows you to support each claim with a tangible result.

Ensure that your evidence is presented in a way that judges can understand. Make a simple graph summarising your data set instead of including it all in your entry.

Perfection comes from proofreading and editing

After all your hard work, it is crucial that you review your entry and ensure it has perfect spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Failure to do so creates a negative impression of your business on judges.

If you keep a week between completing your draft and the deadline, you will be able to make your editing process much more effective. It will give you a fresh perspective when you come back to read it.

To further enhance your proofreading success for winning award entries, show your entry to as many of your colleagues as possible. With a fresh pair of eyes, they may point out mistakes that you might have overlooked or missed. It is often better for a third person to evaluate the award nomination's readability.

This can be a time-consuming process as colleagues may not read it as soon as you send it or take some time to write down their feedback. This is why it is strongly recommended you start writing your entry as soon as possible with an awareness of the submission deadline.

Concluding remarks

To write an award-winning entry, you need to conduct sufficient research, strategise and perfect a creative story.

It is important to have a clear and well-defined awards strategy in place, engage the judges with your compelling story, and back up claims with reliable data and evidence.

By following these guidelines, you can increase your chances of creating a winning entry that not only impresses the judges but also makes a positive impact on your target industry.