As professional business award submission writers, we’re often asked what it takes to win a business award. We regularly receive emails from businesses who’ve been unsuccessful in awards or who have been finalists for several years and say they “just want to win!”
While there isn’t a specific formula as such, there are a list of things you can do to attract the attention of the judges and enhance your business’s chances of winning the award.
Did you know …. In most business awards programs, only 50% of an entry is judged on the actual success or achievements of a person or business?
The remaining 50% of an award is judged on the entry itself. The judges will look at how the entry is presented, and assess the level of effort the entrant has put into presenting themselves or their business, product or service in the best possible light.
Veteran Award Submission Writers Follow These Principles
Are you considering entering a business awards program to boost your profile and help your brand stand out from the competition? In this post, as experienced business awards submission writers, we share handy tips that can help you create an award-winning entry.
1. Select the right awards platform and category to enter
Check the eligibility criteria. Many are based on location, i.e. Australia-wide, state-based or regional, or may be based on business size or length of establishment. Many require specific gender or cultural requirements i.e. women in business on indigenous business. Most awards are based around specific dates, i.e. they cover business activity in a financial year or calendar year.
2. Get in early
Don’t leave writing your business awards submission until the last minute. Nominate or register as soon as the awards open to give yourself plenty of time to prepare and revise your award submission before the closing date. This ensures you have time to submit the best possible entry.
3. Read the questions thoroughly
Print off the questions. Highlight keywords and phrases to make sure your answers accurately address the criteria. You can also copy and paste them into a Word document and start making notes or jotting down bullet points as you think of different achievements to share in your answers.
4. Check your entry carefully
This includes ensuring you have answered the question using the correct information and dates, and ensuring the general readability of your entry. If possible, ask someone else to proofread it for you before uploading it to the awards portal.
5. Prepare everything off-line before submitting your entry online
We never recommend rushing to the finish line. Often, business owners start applying online, only to have a glitch and suddenly they’ve lost the lot and have to start again. Not only is this incredibly stressful, but it will also make your entry look less than professional – trust us, judges can tell!
Writing your award submission offline also ensures you have a copy of your entry. This will be a great reference point for other awards you may wish to enter in the future.
6. If supporting documents are an option – use them!
Present your qualifications, achievements, statistics, images, and any other items that will support the facts you’ve outlined in your award submission.
What business awards judges are looking for in your entry:
- Have you entered the right award/category?
- Have you answered every question accurately and in full? Re-read the question and cross-check it with your answer. Have you REALLY answered the question?
- Stay on point. It’s important not to go off on a tangent telling a story which is irrelevant to the question. No matter how good the story is, if it doesn’t answer the question, leave it out.
- Does your business award submission read well? This can include storytelling, the flow of information, a mix of paragraphs and bullet points, etc.
- Have you presented your entry in a professional way? Check your spelling and grammar, break up paragraphs, and use sub-headings. Presenting a quality entry demonstrates you have obviously taken time and care when preparing your submission. This underscores the care you put into your work.
- Is your story compelling? Demonstrate how you’ve overcome challenges, the outcomes you’ve produced for your clients and any other major achievements. It’s important to set the scene for the judges to understand what you’ve accomplished to date. Remember, they know nothing about your business, so a compelling story can help you stand out.
- Have you provided evidence of your achievements? Wherever possible, take the opportunity to attach copies of certification, testimonials, case studies or graphs demonstrating important facts and figures. Include anything else which supports the claims in your entry.
- Meet the deadline and submit your entry on time. Asking for an extension on the closing date demonstrates you lack time management skills and can portray your business as unprofessional in the judge’s eyes.
How our professional award submission writers can assist you
Based on years of experience, we provide a combination of coaching and writing to ensure your entry shines brightly amongst the dozens or even hundreds of other submissions. We can’t reveal all our secrets in this post. We have a few more “tricks up our sleeve” that we only reveal to our valued clients. That’s what helps them stand out.
We work hand-in-hand with our clients to produce an exceptional award submission. In fact, we’ve even had clients cry tears of happiness and pride when they’ve read their submissions!
As expert award submission writers, we’ve worked with a broad range of Australian small businesses, from real estate agents to builders, gardeners, tourism operators, lawyers, accountants, psychologists, mortgage brokers, kindergartens, workplace trainers, optometrists, fitness centres and more. We’ve established a strong track record for successful business award submissions.
To date, our success rate is 96.25% of clients have been either shortlisted as finalists or become winners of the business awards we’ve collaborated on. We’re pretty proud of that high score!
If you’d like to enhance your chance of winning a business award, we can help. Our professional award submission writers will help make your submission outstanding. Contact Us and tell us which award you wish to enter, provide a link to the questions and include the closing date. We look forward to assisting you soon.
If you have any questions about business awards programs, or award submission writing, feel free to get in touch. We would be happy to help you.
If you found these tips helpful, please like and/or share them with your business associates or LinkedIn connections. You might also enjoy reading this related post.
