7 Tips for Writing a Winning Business Award Submission
GUEST POST - Nicole Garrison
While sustainability, organic growth, and positive brand image matter for continued success on the market, your staff deserves more recognition than that. Business award competitions which take place around the world are a great opportunity for you to showcase your company and staff while also networking efficiently.
However, business award events are often wrought with fine print requirements and submission rules, which can easily lead to disqualification based on a technicality. To avoid that, let’s go through several practical tips which can help you write a winning business award submission and gain the recognition you deserve.
Why Write a Business Award Submission in the First Place?
To start off, let’s talk about why you should write a business award submission in your company’s name. Regardless of what type of business you do, where, and at what capacity, competition is bound to be just around the corner. Business award ceremonies which serve to recognize high-performing and reputable companies can elevate your brand awareness considerably. Thus, some of the practical reasons to participate in such events are:
● Free publicity and industry awareness for your brand
● Higher staff accountability and ownership of past success
● B2B networking opportunities and talent attraction
● Long-term seal of quality acquisition in case of winning
Address the Award Submission Requirements
First and foremost, you should go over the formal requirements of whichever business award event you want to apply for. Every award ceremony has a particular set of rules and regulations in regards to submissions and who can participate in said event.
The best way to avoid uncomfortable situations or early disqualification is to simply go over the requirements listed in the award invitation. Address each point directly and then move on to adding elements which will make your submission unique.
Be a Storyteller
No matter how niche or public the business award ceremony may be, you will want to make your submission stand out for the jury. An easy way to achieve this is to adopt a storyteller’s approach to writing the submission. Start by outlining what your company is all about, its long-term mission, and what your team is passionate about.
Avoid generic descriptors and fluff, which might make your submission bland. Your award submission shouldn’t be written like a research paper but as a reflection of who you are as a business – tell your story from the heart.
Introduce Your Team
Your coworkers make your business tick. As such, you should give them the spotlight they deserve by introducing them. Depending on the size of your business, you can either introduce everyone (startup) or department heads (company) to keep the award submission’s length manageable.
Write a two sentence story about each of your team members or better yet, quote them. Winning business award submissions should be a team effort, so sit down for a meeting and brainstorm about it. Give your company a human voice through the people that work with you, and you will be far more likely to earn the jury’s favor.
Focus Your Writing and Avoid Fluff
What’s the business award event all about? Your award submission should not be a generic application suitable for multiple events. Instead, you should pay closer attention to who the event’s organizer is and what their standards and requirements are before writing.
This will help you focus your message on the relevant success stories and achievements which are suitable for the award ceremony. Likewise, it will help you avoid adding unnecessary information and writing, which will only bloat your document.
Eliminate Niche Terminology
Showcasing your expertise in the industry through niche terminology and difficult-to-understand writing is the wrong way to go about it. You never know who your jury may be, and it’s very easy to confuse representatives who may not have in-depth industry knowledge.
Make sure to eliminate jargon and slang from your business award submission, as well as that you use everyday language while writing. Use descriptive wording and explanations for any achievements or KPIs you may have attained to level the playfield with every potential reader.
Prepare Ancillary Materials
It’s always beneficial to provide your business award organizer with additional materials alongside your submission documentation. Statistical data, video presentations, social proof, and similar ancillary materials can prove useful in building trust and legitimacy behind your application.
A good rule of thumb is to contact the event’s organizer and ask whether such materials should be prepared and in what format. Regardless of their explicit necessity, these materials can prove useful, especially if you win the award and want to present your team’s work further.
Mind Your Word Limit & Grammar
It’s worth reiterating how important business award submission rules are by addressing their word limit. Most award ceremony requirements will list such details explicitly in the application form – read the fine print carefully.
You should always be mindful of how expansive your submission is as well as whether or not there are grammatical or spelling errors present. Such a mistake can cost your business its application and paint a very poor image of your conduct to other applicants and organizers themselves. Once you’re done writing the submission, go over the grammar and formatting through writing tools such as Grammarly or Hemingway Editor just to be safe.
Winning Business Awards and What It Means for the Future
Winning a business award isn’t easy, and you will have to pay close attention to how you write the submission paperwork to do so. However, investing time to apply for such events can pay off in spades besides the obvious industry recognition and public awareness it can bring.
Business award ceremonies serve a specific purpose for your company – they can give your team the motivation to become even better going forward. Don’t write a submission to win – write it so that people find out more about your team and your company’s vision for the future. Do it for “you,” and the approval, recognition, and subsequent reward will come your way effortlessly.
Nicole Garrison is a professional content writer, business advisor, and writers’ team leader at Supreme Dissertations writing service. Nicole’s portfolio consists of digital publishing contributions, academic paper publications, essays, and blog articles across multiple industries related to sales, advertisement, and business development. She spends her free time on personal development and healthy cooking.