The OpenWater Blog

Learning Series: Call for Entry Page

Your call for entry page should and will be one of the most highly trafficked pages on your website. As such, you need to take extra care to ensure it contains all the required information so you don’t miss out on details entrants want to know.

The best call for entry pages strike a healthy balance between information and white space. After all, you don’t want to overwhelm potential entrants. If you include too much information, it’s likely that entrants won’t read it all, defeating the purpose of the page.

So, what’s important enough to make the cut? Here are 8 “musts” that you should focus on, cutting out other information as you see fit.

1. Dates

When does your call for entry begin? When does it end? When is the cut-off for early bird submissions? When are winners announced? When is the awards gala?

These are the questions you should answer in a clean, concise way on the page.

2. Categories

While you will mention categories on your overview page, the call for entry page is a great place to go into greater depth about what each category is and what each is focused on.

Doing so will allow entrants to better evaluate their options and determine whether your program is a good fit for their organization.

3. Eligibility Requirements

If there are restrictions and eligibility requirements for your program, you should clarify them here. This serves the same purpose as going into greater deal about the categories – you’re helping entrants determine whether or not your program is a good fit.

Some of the most common eligibility requirements include:

• No previously submitted work;
• The date range in which the submitted work was created; and
• Industry-specific submissions

4. Fees

Submission fees aren’t mandatory for any program. However, if you’re going to include a submission fee for your program, it’s important you detail what the fee is upfront and on the call for entry page.

You should differentiate between fees for early bird, normal, and late entries if possible. You should also include the specific fee regulations, like whether a fee is refundable if an entrant withdraws their entry.

5. Instructions on How to Enter

Instructions should include the actual process as well as what’s required from applicants. Depending on how entrants are to submit an entry, it’s best to include detailed instructions so there’s nothing left to chance.

6. Link to the Submission Tool

If you use an online platform, like OpenWater, to gather submissions, you should contain a link to the submission tool so entrants can easily begin their submission at that time. If you aren’t using an online system yet, include a PDF with instructions on how the submission process works or how to operate any tools involved in the process (i.e. downloadable PDFs, etc.).

7. Sample Application

Sample applications aren’t always required, but they should be if your submission process and application are complicated. This will eliminate many of the questions entrants are likely to ask throughout the process, saving you time, and helping you generate more entrants since many won’t want to contact you just to learn how to fill out an application.

8. Contact Information

Your contact information should be readily accessible throughout your awards website. This means it should be on virtually every page, including the call for entry page.

Be specific if you’re directing entrants to different individuals for different questions and link to FAQs or other online resources if you’ve made them available to reduce the amount of questions you receive.

What Will You Change on Your Call for Entry Page?

Whether you already have this information on your page and need to reformat it to be less overwhelming or were missing a lot of the information above, there are always improvements to be made on your call for entry page. Make yours carefully to ensure nothing is left to chance and to generate the best applicant response for your program yet.

See a call for entry page in action by checking out our demo site here.

Ashley Surinak

Ashley Surinak is the resident OpenWater expert on all things content. From the blog to guides and beyond, you'll find her at every turn in your OpenWater journey.

Learning Series: Email Marketing Overview

Learning Series: Overview Page on Website