The OpenWater Blog

How to Make Sure Your Awards Program is Ready to Go [+Free Checklist]

Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed when planning your awards program (even just a little bit).

Things can seem pretty daunting when you look at your To Do list. To prepare your program for another season you have to:

• Create your submission form
• Update your website
• Find and train judges
• Create a marketing strategy
• Plan your gala

And those are just the basics!

But you, being the killer awards admin or manager you are, have made it through all the messes and tangles and are ready to open up your call for entry and start accepting submissions.

Or are you?

After months of coordinating and planning it’s especially important to make sure you’ve crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s before pressing the go button. But finding out if anything’s slipped through the cracks is easier said than done.

That’s where we come in. To help you make sure your program is ready to go we’ve created The Ultimate Awards Program Prep Checklist. This checklist will take you through the major parts of your awards program and the tasks involved with each one.

Download the checklist now and we’ll go over and explain each point in this very blog post. Let’s dive right in!

Essential Things to Check before Pressing “Go” on Your Awards Program

1. Your Awards Website

Now, here at OpenWater we’re pretty passionate about awards websites, you might even say we’re obsessed with them. In our defense, they’re pretty darn important. Your website is where your entrants and visitors will go to find information and apply. It’s also going to be what you direct folks to in your marketing efforts.

Because of the vital role your website plays, take a little extra time to look through your website and make sure it’s up to date and ready for another awards season. Important information includes: call for entry page, info about your awards judges, and a historical winners gallery.

2. Your Marketing Strategy

Ah, marketing. The lifeblood of all awards programs. After all, if your team doesn’t take the time to market your awards how are you going to get anyone to apply? It’s imperative to take the time to establish your goals and then plan out your marketing strategy well in advance. Only in doing so can you make sure that your awards marketing is reaching its full potential and efficacy.

Even though it’s time-consuming not putting the time, effort, and funds into your marketing strategy will be detrimental to its success. So before you open your call for entry make sure you’ve got your strategy and content calendar ready to go.

3. The Judging Process

Your awards program couldn’t happen without your judges. These are the industry experts that ensure your awards program recognizes the best of the best. But, as you know, there’s more to awards judging than just sifting through and selecting winners. Judges must be found and trained on the proper judging procedure, for starters.

Without proper communication and training the judging process can get out of hand very quickly. Therefore it’s extremely important to make sure your judging is organized and ready to go.

4. The Awards Staff

What’s behind all the work and the ultimate success of your program? Your awards staff. They’re the ones who take all the goals and plans of an organization and turn it into an awards program; without them, your program literally wouldn’t work.

So in order to ensure your program gets where it needs to go, it’s absolutely vital to gather a dedicated team that’s trained up and has the time and resources necessary to run your awards. Without a proper team your staff will be stretched thin and strapped for time throughout the process — a fate every program should try to avoid.

5. A Sales Strategy

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Sales, ugh.” Sometimes the word “sales” puts people off because of connotations of being spammy or annoying. But I’m not talking sales in that sense; what I mean is every awards program should come up with a plan to not only attract entrants, but also to help them complete the entire process. A “sales” strategy to monitor and nurture entrants to get them to complete their entries can make all the difference for a program.

Think your awards program is ready? Download our checklist to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered!

[button id=”” style=”” color=”orange” type=”large” size=”large” href=”http://www.getopenwater.com/subscribe-to-openwater-blog” align=”center” target=”_self”]Like what you’ve read? Click here to subscribe to this blog![/button]

Miriam Hancock

Miriam Hancock
Miriam is the Marketing Coordinator for OpenWater. When she isn't writing and designing content she paints and cooks for her own personal blog.

Lowering The Learning Curve: Getting Your Judges Acquainted with Online Awards Software

Improved Gallery and Public Vote Module