The untold riches you could gain from winning an award

We often talk with clients about the hidden benefits of being shortlisted for an award and are big fans of the mileage you can get out of just making the list of finalists (see our blog here on how to do that).

A conversation with a client recently reinforced this theory for us as they told us their story. Many of our clients like to keep our work for them confidential, so I’m sorry we can’t name them for you, but rest assured this is a genuine story.

The project – and the award

The award entry we wrote was for a national set of awards and for a project which has been ongoing for some years. The project has seen a relatively large investment and has reaped some great short-term rewards, but by its nature the true impact will only be revealed in the longer-term.

While it is a project delivered by a series of partners, not every organisation which could have been involved had chosen to. The partners are also keen to spread the good practise from the project to other areas and for others to use the techniques they’ve applied.

Much to the surprise of the project manager, winning the award delivered all of the things on their wishlist – and more!

The judging stage

A director of the organisation was at the awards and now has days in their diary to travel to see the project and meet the partners. Many other organisations have stepped forward to join the project, notably one which seems to have moved from being neutral about it to being incredibly keen to get involved with both work on the ground and promoting the project.

The regional media have covered the project as a result of the win, and the team has been able to recruit other organisations willing to take part. The expertise of the team in very specialist areas has also been enhanced by a new partner which came forward at the award ceremony.

Our client said: “Winning the award for the prestige was enough in itself, but even at the awards ceremony we started ticking some things off our wishlist as potential partners and funders came forward both in person and on social media. Over a drink after the ceremony I was also able to secure a commitment from a director to come and visit the project to see what we’ve been up to.

“I would never have believed that winning such a specialist award could have led to such great things. It just proves the power of awards and demonstrates that you can’t always predict what value they will add.”

If you fancy reaping some of the rewards of being a finalist of winner, why not drop us a line to see how we can help?