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2023 – another record year for award entries
As we head towards the Christmas break it felt like a good time to update you on the Awards Writers year.
We’ve helped more clients than ever get their glory, with the number of award entries we’ve worked on up 11%. This year 86% of those entries have made it on to the shortlist (based on what we know on 13 December 2023). Of these, around a third have headed home with a prize.
We’ve supported regular clients with awards and welcomed new ones. Sectors have ranged from contract catering to education, also spanning the motor trade, events, outsourcing and health.
Our long-term awards success
We’re not quite the oldest awards consultancy on the block, but we’re not far off. We were 12 at the start of December, which feels like quite the achievement, having launched during a recession, weathered a pandemic, and now facing into another period when the economy might not be as buoyant as it could be.
This year’s stats are consistent with our long-term success rate, which stands at 81% on a shortlist and just under half of those taking home a prize. Not bad when you’re thinking about hundreds of award entries.
We’re incredibly proud to be able to maintain this level of success, and certain that our robust awards process combined with the team’s judgement, is what keeps them high.
How we keep our award-winning stats on track
We like to tell prospective clients that we love to say no. And we’re not joking. We would much prefer to send someone off with some advice and their budget intact than put together an entry that we know isn’t going to make the shortlist.
Once again this year we’ve turned down the opportunity to write quite a few potentially high-profile entries because we didn’t think either the story or the data to support it was strong enough. With some clients we’ve worked alongside them to craft an awards strategy which means they can enter the project into awards in the future.
We also spend a lot of time immersed in awards. This year our chief wordsmith, Louise Turner, again provided her awards expertise to some local awards, helping small businesses have a platform to tell their stories. Businesses entering those awards are unlikely to become our clients, but she wholeheartedly believes in the power of awards to help SMEs showcase their achievements. She created the categories, robust scoring framework and acted as chair of the judging panel.
Louise also delivers training on how to write awards as well as webinars for a variety of different sets of awards to help entrants create the very best entry. This year, more than 250 people have benefitted from her insight during online courses as well as in a very welcome return to in-person training.
Awards winners in 2023
This year we’ve had winners at awards ceremonies as diverse as the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards, the Association Excellence Awards, the Fleet News Awards, the Agency Awards, the Design Effectiveness Awards, UK Business Tech Awards, and the Digital Finance Awards.
We’re often asked if we have a sector specialism and the simple answer is that we’re awards experts – you are the experts in your sector. We bring our curiosity and depth of knowledge
We can’t always reveal who we’re working for – not everyone wants the world to know they’ve had expert support – but we can tell you about a few of our fabulous clients.
Chartered Institute of Public Relations
We’re exceptionally proud to work for our professional body, who are themselves all communications and marketing professionals. Supporting the marketing team’s award-winning aspirations led us to write entries about some of their membership engagement activity which have scooped six places on shortlists and three trophies.
“From the discovery meeting to final sign off, the process was smooth and fast. Delving into the campaign results with Louise and Kat provided a great opportunity to reflect, and they quickly distilled our story – taking care to address the nuances of the category criteria.
“Industry recognition gives team morale a huge boost so if that win would mean everything, but you don’t have time to plan and produce a standout entry, enlist the help of Awards Writers.”
Sarah Ion, Director of Marketing, CIPR
Read more in our case study here.
Quest Waste Management
National waste management company, Quest, wanted credit for its business transformation and growth. We worked on an award for the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards which saw the Quest team head to London for a finalists’ networking event as well as a separate awards ceremony at which they were awarded highly commended in the growth category. This is an exceptional result in the UK’s “largest awards programme celebrating British business”.
“The Awards Writers process was comprehensive and reflected back to us the great successes we knew we had achieved.
“It was great to have them dig around in our numbers to find innovative ways of evidencing the changes in the business, and we benefitted from having their expertise to both write the entry and pull together the supporting information.
“We’re over the moon to have been named among the finalists in these national awards, and know we can get lots of benefit from just that, whatever the final result.”
Madelein Cook, finance director, Quest Waste Management
Read more in our case study here.
