Choosing the best business awards to enter

As professional business award writers, it’s our job to help our clients focus their efforts on the right awards. But how do we do it?

We look for what we call ‘Goldilocks’ awards – which we find through a strategic process that helps us to identify the best awards to enter to stand the best chance of a win, or a place on the shortlist. It’s all about finding the awards that are just right.

How to identify the best business awards for you

Here are our expert tips on finding the right awards to enter for your business. Remember our team are always on hand if you need some additional support.

What’s your strategy?

Who exactly are you trying to impress? And what would it take to impress them? You need to look for opportunities that will be meaningful to them. Awards that will have some relevancy and standing in their eyes.

Has the award got an applicable category for your business? Alignment is everything, so don’t try to shoehorn yourself in if it’s not a natural fit.

Transparency and integrity

Not all awards are equal. We’ve all had invitations to enter some random industry-specific award land in our junk folders, right? Finding the best award to enter is very much an exercise in due diligence.

If an award is run by any of the following, you can be pretty confident the process is robust

• A trade body
• A trade magazine
• A professional body

If not, you need to investigate the process, and assess each award by the following criteria:

• Who are the judges?
• Are they qualified to judge?
• What’s the judging process?
• Is judging solely by expert panel or does an editorial panel do the first sift?
• Are you able to access the judging criteria?
• Is there a weight/point allocation for the criteria? Do they provide it? How is it distributed?

Budget

Accessing the benefits of business awards comes at a cost these days, so budget is a consideration. We’re not just talking about entry fees either. What about the ceremony? Where’s it held? Who would need to attend and can you spare their absence? What are the ticket/travel/accommodation/time implications to you on a financial level? Can you afford to enter?

Gone see the days of gifting ceremony seats to the finalists, so you need to weigh up value versus cost before deciding if it’s really the best business to enter. If the budget won’t stretch, look for awards hosted closer to home – where you won’t need to worry about those additional overheads.

Need help finding your Goldilocks awards?

Entering an award requires as strategic an approach as any other big business decision. Without doing so, you risk wasting a lot of time, effort and money, rather than gaining the huge value a win or shortlist place can offer.

If you’re looking for the best business awards to enter and you’d like some help, contact our award writers and we’ll identify those crucial Goldilocks awards for you.