10 Things You’re Doing Wrong During Your Awards Program
Raise your hand if you’ve ever carried out an awards cycle perfectly. I’m talking not a single hiccup, typo, or blunder. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
It’s nigh impossible to run and manage the entirety of your awards program without slipping up somewhere. (Though, if you’ve managed it, we’d love to hear your secrets!) Everyone makes mistakes, no matter how minute. And that’s ok!
However, some errors are bigger than others. For example, having a typo in your press release is not the same as forgetting to hire a caterer for your awards gala. You may think such obvious mistakes will never be an issue and that’s great. But, there are smaller, subtler ones that may not seem like a big deal, but could end up costing your program big.
Below we’ll discuss 10 mistakes many awards face, as well as why you should care about them, and how to avoid them.
1. Not taking the time to set up your calendar
Planning is crucial when managing something as big as an awards program. It’s important to map out things like deadlines, and call for entry dates, as well as promotional materials associated with each stage of the program.
Establishing when to release various marketing materials will help keep your program organized. It will also ensure your info remains relevant and interesting, and that your marketing is doing everything it can at each stage.
2. Forgetting to set a budget
Budgeting can be a painstaking slog, but it’s vital nonetheless. Figuring out where to allocate funds is a major step in the organizational process. And, if you’re like many awards programs, you don’t have a bottomless well of money to dive into.
Therefore it’s important to map out as exactly as you can what each phase of the awards cycle is going to cost, to avoid catastrophe later on.
3. Simply hoping for more submissions
You’ve done a lot of work to get your program ready and may be thinking, “Wow. This is good stuff. Everyone in our industry should be clamoring for this award.” Maybe you’re right, but that attitude doesn’t lead to high submissions.
If you’re hoping to increase submissions, you can’t sit back and hope for it to happen this year. You’ve got to keep striving to evaluate and improve your marketing efforts throughout the awards cycle. Only then will you see a change in submission rates.
4. Not preparing your judges
Judges. Such a vital part of your awards program, yet so often the greatest source of headaches. Some judges don’t score entries in time, some use a completely different scoring system, and that one judge just doesn’t respond to your emails.
The best way to combat some of these issues (and the problems they cause down the line) is first to communicate regularly with your awards judges. And second, to provide them with sufficient training on the judging process and the system they will be using to score entries.
5. Complicating the submission process
One of the top reasons entrants don’t finish an entry is because the submission process is too complicated and they lose steam.
So step back and evaluate your application. Do entrants really need 2 forms of ID and 5 pieces of supplemental data that needs to be sent to this email and that mail-in address? Streamlining the process and minimizing the barrier to entry is key to happy entrants. (Learn more about it here.)
6. Letting your program just sit there
Things don’t stop when you open your call for entry! Even though it’s tempting to take a step back and relax, it’s important to stay on top of your program. This means monitoring submissions, marketing materials, and more.
By keeping alert and up to date every step of the way you can catch mistakes before they happen or adjust things where needed. And it’s quick fixes like that that can make a big difference.
7. Wasting valuable time with a clunky system
Accepting submissions through email and supplemental materials through an upload portal, and then tracking them in spreadsheets is a vastly complicated way to manage an awards program. Often such systems get messy quickly, leading to problems, like missing entries. That in turn leads to copious overtime trying to get everything sorted again.
Finding a system that can handle the different processes and stages of the awards cycle is key to eliminating common issues awards administrators face.
8. Deciding to analyze your performance “later”
After submissions are in, winners have been selected, and the celebration is complete, it’s time to time to take a breather.
Wrong!
When the awards cycle ends it’s imperative to do a program-wide assessment. By doing so you can find out where your program rocked and where things went wrong. It’s through this assessment that you’ll really be able to improve your program for next year.
9. Not double-checking things before your call for entry
One little detail that ends up causing so many issues for programs of all kinds is double-checking, or the lack thereof. Before your call for entry opens it’s important to review your entire application process. Pay particular attention to things like media uploads and payment gateways. Little mistakes that can crop up in these areas are an easy fix, but if left unresolved can cause significant issues.
10. Getting stuck with the same issues over and over again
Yes, experiencing one or two hiccups during your awards is kind of annoying. But you know what’s worse? The exact same one or two hiccups cropping up again year after year after year. For example, your website always goes down on the day of your deadline because of a rush of last minute submissions.
Don’t just find a temporary fix for these problems, because you’re just going to have to waste valuable time on it again. Instead take the time to find a proper solution to these issues (even if you can’t implement them until later). It may take a little longer initially, but will end up saving you countless frustrations in years to come.
What snafus have you encountered while running your awards and how did you solve them? Let us know in the comments!
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