Award submission writing in Newcastle
Professional award entry writing for marketing teams who deserve recognition for great campaigns, but don’t have time to make the tedious submission part happen.
With 25 winning entries in the last five years, let me handle the strategy, research, and writing.
Winning awards — it still matters
Everyone has an opinion on awards, and whether you’re looking at business awards or marketing awards, or something specific to your industry, whichever way you look at it — they matter. My awards entries have won 25 awards in the last five years, and even the most sceptical would be surprised to learn of the real business impact they can drive.
That said, as with many things, it’s not as simple as win an award and then job done. ‘Award-winning’ means nothing if every business is, so having a strategy in place before and after your award entry will enable you to maximise the opportunity.
Why do businesses choose to work with a specialist awards writer?
tl;dr version
Completing awards submissions:
- is time intensive
- involves several members of your team
- is often against tight deadlines
- takes your team off their ‘day job’
In short — anyone who has tried writing an award entry will probably have quickly ascertained that there’s more to the process than initially meets the eye.
If you’ve previously entered awards programmes, and know you have great work but just need a little consultancy, training your internal team might be an option which we could look at.
Sure, you could bash out 1000 words and get something submitted. If the awards gods are smiling on you, you might even get shortlisted, or win. But to properly assess against the judging criteria, get the story and narrative of your entry together, and compile some compelling supporting evidence… it’s a lot of work.
Especially if it’s your first time entering an award, I’d recommend reviewing what’s involved, trying to allocate a small project team, and assessing how long you think it’ll take your team (and the overall business cost). Is it going to be easier to outsource to someone who’s done this a hundred times?
How we can work together to win
There are many ways we can go from your brilliant work to a 1000-word entry. Some prefer a hands-off approach, others might just want some part of the process handled. A process I’ve found to work well entails:
🎯 Initial discussion & awards strategy
📋 Brief project plan drafted
💬 Data gathering
📝First draft written
📈 Supporting information collated and draft finalisation
✅ Click ‘Submit Entry’
Have you got an awards strategy?
If you’re just exploring the idea, I would say go for it. Many awards programmes offer free submissions, and those that don’t are relatively inexpensive.
If you think you’re ready to enter, but aren’t sure of the process, the timescales, what’s involved, we can chat about that.
It’s also a good idea to have a strategy in terms of which categories, and which awards programmes in the first place. Choosing your best work can often* be the difference between winning, or not. I’ve managed three awards programmes, and submitted entries to a ton of others, and it’s a topic close to my heart, so let’s chat awards strategy.
Great, how much does this cost?
Many companies will choose to enter more than one category, and into more than one programme. Depending on how many you choose to enter, and your overall strategy, there can be some cost efficient in entering multiple awards.
Depending on your strategy, we could work on a retainer basis, where we just work on as many as we can over the biggest awards seasons in your industry, or on a per entry basis. The cost for this will depend on the specific awards programme, so let’s chat.
Some awards programmes I’ve been involved in
There are literally hundreds of awards programmes out there. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in some great ones during my time in marketing here in the North East, including:
- North East Marketing Awards
- British Bank Awards
- Prolific North Marketing Awards
- UK Digital Excellence Awards
- Northern Digital Awards
- Insurance Choice Awards
- English Italian Awards (ask me about this one!)
- Global Social Media Awards
- Consumer Credit Awards
- Outdoor Media Awards
Quick tips for award success
What makes an award-winning entry?
This will vary wildly between different awards programmes, but the number one piece of advice I would give — as daft as it sounds is — answer the questions! Clearly demonstrating measurable impact that aligns with the awards questions is the most important thing.
We’ve entered something in the past that was successful, can we reuse that?
It depends. Most programmes have strict activity timings, and the questions between different awards can often be quite different. It’s worth holding on to these, and reviewing, for sure. See the above question around the most important thing to remember!
When should I start preparing for an award entry?
Literally, as soon as you can. The deadlines always hit fast, and with other priorities in your business, it’s good practice to get them in promptly ahead of time. Oftentimes, there’s a discount from the awards programmes for doing so, too.
Can you help me choose which awards to enter?
Definitely — see the section above on awards strategy. Which awards and categories you enter is often just as important as the submission itself.
Winning awards is a task that I’ve seen businesses underestimate both in terms of impact as well as effort required. But even after winning so many, the thrill of hearing your business name read out by the host before you take to the stage — never gets old.
