Choose your best people and your best initiatives for nominations. Just nominating lots of people in the same category is giving the wrong message to the judges. You need to be confident that you are choosing your best people to have the best chance of being shortlisted and winning.
Keep it simple. It’s tempting to tell our judges about every amazing thing you have achieved, but it’s important to stick to the criteria. Tell the judges about your proudest achievements in a clear, consistent way. For example, tell us the reason for the initiative, how you implemented it, and the results you achieved.
Keep it real. We’re not judging you on a fancy presentation or long words, that doesn’t matter to our judges. Don’t ask a marketing agency to write the entry for you (we can spot them a mile off!) We want to judge real people, doing real things. Tell it as it is, it just needs to be authentic.
Remember that the judges don’t know your organisation. Avoid jargon and acronyms.
Provide evidence. Keep statements factual, as this will help with the credibility of your entry. For example, instead of saying: “We have an excellent recognition program, say: “Our recognition programme contributed to an employee engagement increase of x% since the programme began.”
Don’t forget the customer! It’s really important that you make it clear how the individual, team or initiative has impacted customers. Customer testimonials are incredibly powerful – choose the best few examples that clearly and concisely demonstrate your excellence.
Tell your story. Share your motivations, what drives you, what you set out to do and what you achieved.
Supporting information can help. If you are including supporting information, don’t overload judges with materials that aren’t relevant to your entry. Some good ideas to include are:
- KPI charts, reports, project deliverables
- Colleague engagement results/customer satisfaction results
- Feedback received (internally and externally)
- Organisation chart (helps the judges understand your organisation).
Ensure that you have the remit to make the nomination. Talk to your line manager about the programme and ensure that they support the entry