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    Captivating the judging panel – 8 tips for identifying the project you should use for your award submission

Captivating the judging panel – 8 tips for identifying the project you should use for your award submission

No award was ever won with a half-hearted or slapdash approach, so to give yourself the best chance of winning, you need to use an example that grabs attention and shows you off in the best possible light. Finding the best project to use as evidence for your entry maximises your potential for success, and it doesn’t need to be difficult.

8 tips for identifying your evidence

We’ve collated 8 of best types of projects to use for your award submission. With a little in-house communication and a bit of digging, you’re sure to be able to satisfy some of these criteria.

Work with well known brands – do you have any blue chips or high street names on your client list? If so, look into the projects you’ve completed for them, because a brand name will always get the judges’ attention.
Unusual or particularly challenging scenarios – it’s easy to say you’re amazing at what you do, but you need to prove it! By demonstrating your ability to overcome a real industry challenge, you can really highlight your skills and leading techniques.
Projects that have returned high value for your client – we’ve all heard the phrase, ‘money talks’, so put your clients’ money where your mouth is and spout (factual) rhetoric about the incredible value or profit boost you’ve given them.
Projects with great stats to back up your claims – statistical analysis of your projects could throw up some impressive figures. Crunch the numbers, measure improvements made by your services and you’ll be able to clearly back up your claims.
Projects where the original perceived value was superseded – promised to deliver but your client got even more than they bargained for? If you [...]

By |September 16th, 2015|Awards tips, Gathering evidence|0 Comments|
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Motivating your staff to reach for the stars

Entering business awards takes both tactical and strategic thinking, and if you’re serious about your entry, it should be incorporated into your overall performance management strategy. Gathering examples and data to support your entry has to be a responsibility shared by the company as a whole, or at the very least, the department most closely aligned to your next submission subject.
We all want our employees to be proactive and enthusiastic, and that’s really the beauty of awards – winning or being shortlisted for them encourages this behaviour, while incentivising them to aim towards an award also does the same. It’s a win/win situation.
First of all, you need to clearly communicate to all management and staff which awards you’re thinking of entering, so they have an end goal to keep them focused. Knowing that they could play an instrumental part in achieving that accolade will help them to hone in on opportunities, and work extra hard to create great case studies and gather evidence.
Everyone wants to be a winner
Whether it’s within one key department or business-wide, a bit of healthy competition never hurts. Running a ‘leader board’ or some kind of visual reference to chart targets or successes that relate to your entry can really ramp up productivity levels. Equally, if people are chatting about the award over the water cooler or in the canteen, other departments will get wind of it and also want to prove that their part of the business is awesome too!
There’s always the option to go one step further if you really want to motivate your staff: offer incentives to those whose work clinches that win or a place on the award shortlist. Spa days, [...]

By |July 17th, 2015|Awards, Awards tips, Gathering evidence|0 Comments|
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  • Permalink The Capita team collects their CCA AwardGallery

    Using internal communications to inspire awesome award submissions

Using internal communications to inspire awesome award submissions

While the idea of entering business awards may be eminently appealing for many organisations, one of the main barriers to entry is the concern that it will be too time-consuming. Of course, there are professional awards writers on hand to help with the submission process (*waves*), but it’s also worth thinking strategically, and building award-focused activity into your internal communications to keep things moving in the right direction.

A simple shift in your strategy can really help you to collate the data and evidence required for an award entry – and once implemented, it becomes a rolling process that can enhance team morale and open up further opportunities for your business. So how do you do it?

Dedication, that’s what you need

Firstly, you need to engage your employees. Use any means at your disposal to inform and motivate them: intranet, newsletter, monthly departmental meetings – whatever works for you. Share success stories via these mediums and make sure any big contract wins or exceptional feedback is shared among the team. If you’re a large organisation, you could assign one person per department/unit to collate evidence and forward to your awards submission writer.

These morale-building exercises will encourage productivity, with everyone wanting to be part of the next win. You can highlight specific awards you’re targeting to focus your people, keep things general and find awards to fit the results, or even a bit of both. The trick is to use awards as a mechanism to encourage staff to raise the profile of your business, both internally and externally.

What kind of evidence?

Successful award submissions are all about proving high standards – so you need to look for things you can measure or compare to something else in order [...]

By |March 17th, 2015|Awards, Awards tips, Gathering evidence|0 Comments|
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