by Bright Ewuru | Apr 9, 2025 | Articles
Running a competition is an exciting way to encourage excellence, showcase talent and drive growth and innovation in any field. It can also provide meaningful recognition for the entrants, validating their preparation and celebrating triumphs.
Organising a competition involves careful planning and execution, including the management of registration, submission, communication and judging. To save time and simplify all the processes, competition management software is key.
However, with an array of contest management software out there, making a choice can feel daunting. Here are some fundamental features you should look for when choosing contest management software.
No two competitions are the same. Contests could have different rules and formats. There might be new compliance requirements, workflows, branding requirements and other unique organisational needs.
Customisability is a vital feature of competition management software. Your contest management tools should be configurable to accommodate the varying needs of your unique contest. This can ensure operational efficiency, allowing you to configure the platform to match your needs, instead of forcing your process to fit the tool’s rigidity.
It can also foster quicker adaptation to change and drive broader applicability. This can help sort last-minute changes and save costs by eliminating the need for different systems for different competition formats.
A good competition will grow, and your software should support that growth. Award Force-powered programs report an average 38% year-over-year increase in entrants. Your competition software should be ready for anything. Often, contests record a sudden surge in registrations on the opening day or as the deadline approaches.
What’s more, there might be a need to juggle multiple competitions or concurrent seasons.
While these conditions sound like good news for your competition, they can put pressure on the system. Be sure to check for any limitations on system users, entrants, or submissions.
Scalability in contest management software is a must-have. It ensures that the platform can efficiently handle a growing database of participants and accommodate multiple competitions running simultaneously without crashing.
When organising a competition, you’ll want to focus on setting up the contest, not learning how to use the software. Your competition management system should have an engaging and interactive interface, making it easy to use. Ease of use is also important for your contest participants, as it can enhance the entrant experience and reflect positively on your brand.
Look for these elements of user-friendly contest software:
Competitions often involve handling personal and confidential information such as payment and registration details. It’s important to choose contest management software with strong security features to prevent a data breach.
What’s more, a platform with sturdy security can ensure fair play by preventing fraudulent voting and result tampering. This can build trust in the competition and your brand as a whole.
Check for features such as user authentication and access control. The software should have secure databases and regular backups to prevent data loss due to any attack or failure. Look for data encryption, audit logs and your choice of data residency.
You’ll want your contest management software to integrate seamlessly with your other tools. Integration streamlines and automates data entry and flow across platforms. It also ensures that the different components of competition management work together for maximum efficiency.
Integration with payment gateways, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, accounting systems, communication tools, analytics and reporting platforms should be supported.
Look for competition management software that has robust scoring and judging tools. Good judging capabilities can eliminate subjectivity in assessment and a variety of judging modes can ensure adaptability to specific scoring needs.
The evaluation suite should also be transparent to boost credibility and audience engagement. A well-rounded evaluation system provides value to judges while improving overall participant experience.
Look for scoring methods and judging modes that feature tools like scoring rubrics, score-based judging, ranking, voting and qualifying judging modes.
Competition management software streamlines every aspect of contest management, guaranteeing the order and clarity necessary for excellence to shine. Your software should boast core features of customisability, scalability, security, integration capability, user-friendliness and comprehensive evaluation tools.
Award Force has these powerful functionalities and much more; check out how we can help you run your competitions efficiently.
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