The OpenWater Blog

Making the Most of Your Awards Call for Entry

Your call for entry (CFE) is the absolute most important element of your entire awards program. But if this is the case, why do so many awards programs offer a lackluster CFE on their awards website?

Really, there’s no simple answer for this question, maybe they’re too busy to spend a lot of time on it, or maybe they just don’t think it’s necessary to devote time and resources to a more fleshed out CFE. As tempting as it may be to spend your time and resources elsewhere, ignoring your CFE can negatively impact your program.

However, there are simple solutions that can help take your call for entry from mediocre to magnificent. And when you do, you’ll receive increased responses that can help make your program the best one you’ve ever had.

The Biggest Call for Entry Mistake You Can Make

Every awards website includes a CFE, but that doesn’t mean they’re all created equal. In fact, many end up making the biggest mistake you can make, complicating your efforts to generate interest in your program.

What’s this number one mistake? Simply deciding to only post the bare minimum of information required.

This means that the CFE only includes a few things like dates, fees, and a link to the actual application. As you might guess, this can cause significant confusion and generate an overload of emails of interested entrants not knowing quite what to do. Or, worse yet, it can discourage potential entrants from submitting an entry at all because the lack effort in a CFE can make a program appear disreputable.

So having a bare-bones CFE can not only overload your super busy awards staff with follow up and support questions, but it could also deter people from submitting altogether. Yikes.

But before you get too concerned, know that this situation is easily avoided! With a few elements you can build out a comprehensive and impressive CFE, giving entrants all of the information they need, building up your reputation, and encouraging the submissions that will ultimately make your program a success.

9 Elements You Must Include in Your Call for Entry

The call for entry page on your awards website is nothing without the right elements in your CFE itself! When you’re carefully crafting this, be sure to include these vital 9 elements:

1. About the Awards – Your CFE is meant to excite people! By including information about your program’s history and tenure, you can generate interest and establish legitimacy too.
2. Categories – Listing out your categories will let interested entrants know whether or not their submission would be a fit for your program.
3. Judging Criteria – Showing how entries will be judged will help entrants structure their submissions and heighten the qualities of the entries as well.
4. Entry Criteria – Be sure to tell entrants all of the information they’ll need to submit upon entering! This will help them prepare and evaluate eligibility requirements.
5. Judges – Judges are typically industry experts, meaning that they can attract potential entrants too. Be sure to show off your judges for additional publicity.
6. Relevant Dates – Let entrants know when your CFE begins and ends so they can prepare their submission in time.
7. Fees – You don’t want entrants to get to the end of your program and then be surprised (often in a negative way) by the necessary fees. Detail different costs (like general entry fees, early bird discounts, and late fees) explicitly and your entrants will thank you.
8. How to Submit – Include a link to the application to simplify the submission process for those who are interested. This can increase your number of entrants and create a hassle-free process for everyone involved.
9. Contact Information – Contact information makes it simple for those with questions or who want additional information to get it quickly and efficiently.

Your call for entry sets the tone for your entire program so it’s important that you get every last detail right. And when you follow the advice and implement the necessary elements referenced above, you can do just that!

Of course, a little extra guidance and support never hurt anyone! Be sure to download our Call for Entry Toolkit if you want to know all of our tips for getting your CFE just right.

[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.

Do You Know the 5 Golden Rules of Engagement for Awards?

How to Create Social Media Images for Your Awards Marketing That Aren’t Lame