The 10 Stages of Getting Your Call for Entry Ready
When it’s time for you next awards cycle to begin your to-do list can get out of control pretty quickly. There’s a lot to prepare before you can start accepting entries and one of the big things on the list is getting your call for entry (CFE) ready.
Your call for entry is so important because it is the page on your website, the press release, the social message, and email where people are going to read about your awards and learn if they want to apply during this cycle. Essentially, in getting your call for entry ready you’re more or less organizing the entirety of your program and the information any potential entrant might need.
So the process of getting your CFE ready can feel a little like this:
1. Panic
What? It’s time for your awards again?! There’s so much to do!
2. Determination
Ok, you’ve got a lot to do, but you can handle this. You’ve just got to get organized and you’ll be fine.
3. Planning
Planning out all the information your call for entry needs to include is crucial to its success. Try to see your awards from the perspective of a stranger to ask any potential questions. You can also refer to this list of important things to include.
4. Stress
Getting everything ready can easily get stressful, especially if you’re making any changes to your program this year (like adding categories, changing the timeline, finding new judges, etc.) If only there were some way to make your life easier…
5. Discovering helpful resources!
Nothing is more exciting than happening upon some free resources that make your workload a little bit lighter, like the call for entry toolkit.
6. Double checking all your info
After you’ve meticulously planned out what needs to be included in your CFE, but before you complete your final draft, be sure to double-check that all the information is correct.
7. Getting it ready for different platforms
Your CFE should definitely be posted on your awards website, but that’s not the only place on the internet it should be displayed. You should also prepare: a press release announcing the opening of your awards cycle, messages on various social platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, and send out an email to relevant parties.
8. Scheduling
The only thing left to do after this is to schedule the release of all your messages.
9. Actually releasing it
Maybe you experience a little flutter of anxiety (did you really get it all done??)….
10. Relief
…But mostly you’re relieved. You did it! Now you’ve just got to wait for the entries to roll in.
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