An engineer and developers guide to winning business awards
Let’s be honest, the last time most engineers wrote more than three sentences that weren’t Slack messages or inline comments, they were probably emailing IT about a broken monitor. So yeah, award nominations? They’re not exactly high on the commit log.
But here’s the thing: you’re doing solid work. Really, deeply impressive stuff that makes products run smoother, data fly faster, and users curse slightly less. And yet, nobody’s hearing about it because you refuse to write about it.
As someone who now runs the Business Intelligence Group and spends more time reading nominations than debugging anything, I’ve got a few notes. Having bounced from newspapers to network tech to building award programs that don't feel like high school yearbook superlatives, I know a good nomination when I see one.
And I know when it was clearly written by someone who really, really loves clean architecture but hates "selling themselves."
Let’s fix that.
Stop Writing Like You’re Explaining It to Your Future Self
So, you made an AI tool that cut latency by 64% across five APIs. Nice. But saying that’s like describing the Grand Canyon as a "hole with rocks."
Instead, explain what that meant. "We built a tool that made things run faster. So fast that customer support said, ‘uh, is it broken?’ because the error rate dropped off a cliff."
In other words, make it real. Show the before and after. Use metaphors your aunt would understand. Or your CEO.
Metrics Matter, But Only if You Tell the Story
Alright, you’ve got numbers. Good. But here’s a thing we see often: a nomination that goes like this...
"Increased throughput by 31.4% year over year."
Cool stat. And?
It’s like saying you cooked dinner but not mentioning you also invented the stove. Instead, say:
"We rebuilt the pipeline, cut out the slow bits, and the result? 31% more data moving every minute, and not one server fire."
A little drama never hurt.
Assume the Judge Has No Idea What a Container Is
I mean, they probably do, but don’t risk it. Write like you’re explaining your work to a really smart 8th grader. Or your dog.
Leave out the alphabet soup. Say "we used code that updates itself" instead of "we implemented CI/CD pipelines with GitOps orchestration." Just... breathe.
Don’t Wait Until the Final Hour (We Know You Will)
Look, it’s fine. Procrastination is basically a team sport in tech. But maybe just this once, set a calendar reminder.
Nominations that come in 5 minutes before the deadline? Yeah, they usually read like you copy-pasted Jira tickets and threw in a sentence about "innovation."
You deserve better. So does your work.
It’s OK to Say You’re Proud (We Won’t Tell Anyone)
If your code helped launch something, saved a bunch of people’s time, or made your product 10x cooler, say it. Even better? Have someone else say it. Grab a quote from a user, your PM, or someone whose opinion isn’t "meh, it works."
Recognition doesn’t mean you’re bragging. It means you're giving credit where credit is due—to you, your team, and your tech.