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Why You Need to Maintain Transparency Throughout Your Awards Program

If there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that no awards program director wants to make their job more difficult than it has to be. There’s so much to do planning and running the program, and getting entrants to apply, why add to the stress?

However, some organizations may be discouraging applicants from entering their competition without realizing it, causing them to do extra work and jump additional hurdles to get entrants to apply. So what’s causing this added workload? A lack of transparency of the awards process.

However, it doesn’t have to be this difficult. It’s actually pretty simple to maintain a high level of transparency without totally giving up the privacy of the awards process.

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Transparency

As with all aspects of your business, you have to consider your awards from a customer-centric perspective to fully understand the importance of transparency.

From your customers’ point of view, your awards program isn’t worth entering if they aren’t sure scoring and evaluations are being conducted fairly. Because entries take time and energy to complete, if entrants don’t feel as if they stand a fair chance to be recognized for their work, they aren’t going to bother taking the time to even enter.

A transparent awards process provides all entrants the assurance they need that the whole of your awards program is being run fairly and that the evaluation and scoring stages are being carried out without bias.

Four Ways to Maintain Transparency Throughout Your Awards Program

If you’ve always wanted to know how to provide the extra reassurance entrants need to feel confident about your awards program, you won’t have to wonder anymore.

We’ve compiled several different approaches you can take to ensure your awards program and the way it’s conducted is something your entrants can trust.

1. Include all Significant Information on Your Awards Website – Your awards website is the central location to use throughout your program to connect with members and relay important information. But don’t stop at just listing out your call for entry and eligibility requirements. Provide information on things like judging criteria, judging biographies, and a timeline of events, among other details, that can help establish the legitimacy of your program.

2. Maintain Regular Communication – You don’t just want to have members enter their submissions and then to drop off the radar. By maintaining regular communication via email, social media, and your website, you can keep entrants updated and show them that your awards program is one worth trusting. These types of communication can range anywhere from reminders of deadlines to giving a shout-out to an entrant by highlighting their entry on social media.

3. Compile Public Galleries of Applicants and Winners – At the end of the day, most of your members enter your awards program to gain notoriety for their accomplishments in your industry. By creating a public gallery showcasing your applicants and winners, you can demonstrate your commitment to treat all submissions fairly and give entrants the recognition they want, all at once.

4. Choose an Outside Verification Service – Often, the best way to gain the trust of hesitant entrants is by having your awards audited through an outside verification service to demonstrate the authenticity of your program. Any outside source can oversee submissions, maintain the privacy of judging scores, and be responsible for the list of winners. As a result, your organization is kept out of the process which means that entrants won’t have to worry about the possibility of bias at all.

By following the advice above, you can maintain a high level of transparency necessary to encourage and engage potential entrants.

Download our guide to learn the top five ways to engage members and customers alike throughout your awards program.

Miriam Hancock

Miriam Hancock
Miriam is the Marketing Coordinator for OpenWater. When she isn't writing and designing content she paints and cooks for her own personal blog.

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