Awards
South East Excellence Awards
Tips & Tricks
See below our top tips and tricks for submitting effective award entries. If you would like to add anything to assist future entrants please let us know. This guidance relates to award submissions in general. You should always refer to award specific guidance before completing a submission.
Research the awards scheme – is it right for you?
Setting the scene in your entry
Keep it simple and avoid jargon
A good picture can tell a thousand words…
Give quantitative/independent evidence
Inform project partners that you are entering the award
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL – ENSURE YOU ADDRESS THE CRITERIA
Research the awards scheme – is it right for you?
Use this site to identify awards schemes that you might like to enter.
Before entering, make sure you have accessed and read all available information relating to the award and if you have any queries contact the awarding body before you begin – they want your entries so will welcome the call.
It is important you understand the aims of the scheme, the criteria, the assessment process and check that you/your project is eligible. Use this site to identify any previous winners within the region which may help to understand if this is the right award for you.
Setting the scene in your entry
Each awards scheme will have its own guidance but in most instances you will be required to set the scene with a project summary before moving on to address specific criteria.
It is important that this is concise. Don’t be tempted to paste in any old description you have kicking around the office. Remember this will be the opening statement in your entry and therefore must prove to the assessor that it is worth reading on! You should address the following:
-
What have you done?
-
Why have you done it?
-
Where is it?
-
How have you done it?
-
Who has done it?
It is important to note that a large number of entries fail to be clear about the exact stage the project is at right now – what has been achieved, what is underway but not complete.
Keep it simple and avoid jargon
Ensure that your entry is not too text heavy and within word limits if specified. There may be the opportunity to supply additional information to assessors later in the judging process.
Do not make assumptions about the assessors’ expertise - avoid highly technical language, acronyms without explanation etc.
A good picture can tell a thousand words…
A small number of photographs, graphs or diagrams1 can be a valuable addition to your entry. Before and after images can be very effective to illustrate the achievement of some projects. Ensure you refer to images/graphs within the text of your submission. It is important not to bombard the award organisers with too many images just a few well chosen ones should do the trick.
Give quantitative/independent evidence
In entering an award you are of course compelled to say how wonderful your project is but to in order to present the strongest case you should incorporate quantitative and independent evidence. This will vary hugely dependent upon the nature of your project but could include for example, statistics regarding the leverage of private funding against.
1 again, individual awards schemes may have their own guidance/limits