9 Ways to Increase Member Participation in Your Awards Program
We cover lots of topics on the OpenWater blog, but this one is the most important. Without enough members participating in your awards program, you won’t have an awards program for long. Let’s solve that problem.
How to Increase Member Participation in an Awards Program
An awards program highlights deserving members, spreads awareness of your association, showcases industry innovation, and provides stories to repurpose for education. Increasing entries helps you achieve these goals.
Understand why members aren’t participating in your awards program
You can’t solve a problem unless you know what’s causing it. Identify the reasons for low participation in your awards program by surveying members who haven’t participated.
- Are they aware of the program?
- Can they name the awards or any past winners?
- What do they associate with the awards?
- Do they find the awards relevant, inclusive, and fair?
- Do they understand the benefits of participating?
- Is the application process too complex?
Raise awareness of the awards program
Promote the call for entries in your online community, social media posts, newsletters, and trade publications. Increase program awareness by giving award winners opportunities to share their expertise and experience in articles, webinars, conference sessions, and other events.
Bring attention to your year-round awards website, the one place to learn everything about the program:
- Types of awards
- Submission and judging processes
- Benefits of participating
- Recognition opportunities
- Winners gallery
- Sponsors
Optimize these pages for search engine traffic by using industry-specific keywords and phrases like “award-winning” and “best of.”
Convince members to care about the awards program
The biggest problem with award programs is member apathy. Why should they care?
Evaluate what you’re recognizing with the awards. Contributions to the association or the industry? Longevity or influence? Business as usual or innovative practices? If awards are going to the former rather than the latter, no wonder people are tuning out.
Awards must have meaning and relevance for most members and professionals in the industry. If they’re named after former industry giants, do those people still have name recognition beyond the oldest members? Do members know what the award recognizes?
Have awards lost meaning because you give too many of them? Are you diluting their exclusivity? Or are the awards too exclusive? Do only big-budget businesses enter and win? Are only active volunteers winning?
The answers to these questions could signal the need to revamp your program by creating new award types or tiers for different segments or experience levels. Encouraging self-nominations and nominations by others will lead to more entries.
Emphasize the benefits of participating in the awards program
Identify the target audience for each award. Develop marketing messaging that focuses on the positive impact the award will make on each segment.
Validate your messaging by talking with past winners who represent multiple membership segments. Make sure your messaging includes these benefits:
- Industry-wide recognition via association and trade media
- Resume, career, and business booster
- Enhanced personal and professional brand
- Reputation for credibility, authority, and trust
- Prizes for winners
Describe the extent of the recognition winners will receive, for example, a digital badge for LinkedIn, press release, and opportunities to be interviewed for articles, and participate, if they wish, in educational events.
Collect winner testimonials about the impact the award made on their career. Share action photos of them speaking at conferences or webinars.
Brainstorm recognition ideas. A manufacturing association gives their key award winner a distinctive, recognizable flag to fly outside their plant. Everyone in the industry knows what this flag represents.
Convince members they have a fair shot
Low-participation programs tend to recycle award winners, which gives members the impression the fix is in—a vicious cycle. Why take part if you don’t have a fair chance?
On your awards website, describe eligibility requirements and winner selection criteria so members understand the process. Explain how judges are chosen and the rules and policies they must follow, for example, avoiding conflicts of interest.
In your call for entries, tell members it doesn’t matter whom you know or don’t know. Awards are a no-favoritism zone. The guiding principles are fairness, transparency, and integrity.
Personally invite members to participate
Analyze entrant data to see which groups of members are missing from submissions. Develop a plan to identify potential award winners in these groups and encourage them to participate.
Personal invites from staff and members are more effective than a blast email to the entire membership, although, do that too. To diversify entries, ask past winners and volunteers to invite members from underrepresented groups to apply for an award.
Gather the names of potential winners throughout the year. If your staff and/or volunteer leaders use Slack or a similar platform, create a channel to collect blurbs about members who did something remarkable, for example:
- Mentions in press releases or industry newsletters
- Success stories in your association’s articles, newsletter, or online community
- Case studies shared in conference sessions and educational events
Ask sponsors and corporate partners to encourage members to apply for an award or recommend names to you for follow-up.
Connect with the people at member companies who care about awards. HR teams can tell you about individual achievements. Marketing departments want recognition for projects and accomplishments. Appeal to their desire for a stronger reputation, credibility, and differentiation.
Take away uncertainty
Clearly explain the eligibility requirements, application process, and selection criteria on your awards website.
Host a webinar (with encore performances) for prospective entrants where they can ask questions about:
- Details of the program and application process
- What they need to know before applying
- Tips for a successful submission
Reduce barriers to entry
Subsidize program expenses with sponsorships, so you don’t have to charge entry fees to members. It’s possible to involve sponsors without compromising the program’s integrity. Sponsors can also help with award-winner recognition.
Entry fees create a barrier for members with limited budgets, which may include more members than you realize. If the program is free for members, charge non-members a fee per entry.
To maximize entries, don’t schedule the submission period during your industry’s hectic season.
Busy members won’t participate if the process takes too long. Eliminate application requirements that aren’t essential for the judges. If you ask applicants to address a specific topic or submit evidence of a specific activity, assess whether these requirements are still aligned with the award’s purpose.
Check for inclusive language in:
- Calls for entries
- Awards website
- Submission form
- Judge’s application
Make it easier to participate in the awards program
Along with clear instructions, rules, and eligibility requirements, offer tips for a successful application and an application checklist.
An awards management platform makes it easy for members to complete their application and upload supporting documents. They can quickly check helpful resources and, if necessary, save and return to an incomplete application. Take a quick video tour of OpenWater to see how it simplifies and organizes awards management for associations of all sizes.
What Is Awards Management? Everything You Need to Know
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