The OpenWater Blog

Learning Series: Post-Cycle Preparation Checklist

Your awards cycle just ended and you’re trying to wrap your head around what you’re going to do differently next year. But with so many processes and stages in your program – the call for entries, judging, sponsorships, and the gala included – actually figuring out what to do different for any stage may seem overwhelming.

At OpenWater, we have a checklist to ensure you don’t miss any important points along the way. Below, we briefly cover each stage to give you a small indication of what you should be looking for in your own program too.

Call for Entries

The call for entries is likely to be one of the most time-consuming stages you evaluate.

Here are just some of the checklist items we recommend you analyze:

• Was the entry process, rules, eligibility, and criteria clear?
• Are there additional questions you should add to the website FAQs?
• Was your audience satisfied with the submission process?
• Are there necessary changes for the category structure?
• Was there a social media or other marketing plan in place to promote the call for entry? If so, was it successful?

Judging

Because judges tend to attract entrants, it’s important to evaluate the judges themselves and the judging process you created for them.

Here are some of the checklist items to pay attention to for this stage:

• Do you have a way to maintain communication with judges to encourage their repeated participation in your program?
• Do you need to recruit more/less judges next year depending on your workload?
• Do you need to recruit different judges to attract the entrants you wish to attract?

Sponsorship

Sponsorships are a great way to generate revenue when you go about them properly.

Evaluate your existing efforts with the following checklist items:

• Are there new sponsorship options that could attract new sponsors or old options you should no longer offer?
• Are sponsorship prices reasonable for your industry and prospective sponsors?
• Which sponsors did not return from last year? Why?

Gala

Your gala is the culmination of the rest of your program and celebrates all who participate.

Take a critical look at your program with the following questions:

• Should there be changes in the ticketing process?
• Can you offer additional products or services to generate revenue at the gala?
• Was the gala length appropriate?

Access the Full Checklist

If you’re interested in accessing the full checklist to ensure you aren’t missing anything important at any stage, purchase our book, Awards 101: The Missing Manual for Awards Professionals! Within, you’ll find the checklist and 10 chapters of information to take you from a general awards overview through each stage of the cycle to your gala.

Get the book here for Kindle or as a hard copy!

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.

5 Questions You Should Ask When Considering Conference Submission Software

How to Eliminate the Learning Curve of Abstract Software