Tell me – when was the last time you nominated yourself for an award?
What’s that? You’ve never nominated yourself? Why not?!
I do understand – it can feel strange nominating yourself. It can feel odd asking for accolades or even acknowledgement for what you do on an everyday basis.
I know that you do what you do because you want to make a difference – not for the glory. I also know the amount of work involved in entering awards! With that in mind, I totally understand if you rarely enter awards.
However, entering awards can actually be pretty beneficial for your cause. Hear me out …
Here at Hancock Creative, we have been lucky enough to have received a pretty impressive swag of awards (just some of them include being named as a finalist for The Western Australian Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award in 2016, named as one of the top 100 coolest companies by Anthill – twice! – and, in 2017, receiving the Telstra Business Awards Micro Business Award in WA).
In fact, I’ve just been nominated for Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25 awards, too, along with Carmen Platt from The Generous & The Grateful and Zoe Scharenguivel from Friends With Dignity. I couldn’t be prouder!
Why do we enter awards? Because winning them gets our name out there, which allows us to reach more organisations and therefore, help more people. Essentially, it is great PR because your cause and your organisation get seen by more people. That’s got to be a good thing!
Entering awards and crafting the perfect application can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips we have discovered to help you on your way:
Be true to your cause
Awards applications always ask for examples. The trick here is to always be authentic and use these responses to tell your story! No judge wants to read the same thing from each applicant; it will not get you noticed.
Of course, you need to follow the application guidelines, but if given the opportunity, do share what makes your cause or workplace amazing.
Prove the difference that your cause makes
When you write your application make sure you are armed with facts and figures. This might be how much you have raised from fundraising in the last year or the number of people impacted by a campaign your cause organises. You know the difference your cause makes – ensure the judges of the awards know this as well.
Take your time
We know you wear many hats for your cause and you are very time-poor, so we’re going to be honest: writing award applications can be time-consuming. So, like planning your social media content, you need to tackle it a bit at a time. Set yourself a goal for one question/section a day or a week (depending on the deadline) to stay on track.
Also, see if you can divide up the workload between colleagues if possible. For example, you might be able to get your CEO to craft some responses, and your marketing manager to craft others. Have a think about who is the best person within your cause to answer each question (it doesn’t have to be all done by one person!).
Ready to go?
Then you might like to know that nominations for the Telstra Business Awards are open from now until Thursday March 7.
You can use this link to start your nomination now!
And, if you’d like to vote for me, Carmen and Zoe in Pro Bono Australia’s Impact 25 awards, just click here. Voting will close on Thursday 31 January at 5pm.
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