by Lindsay Nash | Jul 13, 2023 | Articles
An awards program can take many different formats, especially when it comes to applying for and entering into an awards program. One popular method is to accept entries through a nomination process.
Why utilise an award nomination entry process? It can add credibility to your awards entries from the very start. It can put your awards program, organisation and brand in front of more eyes. And, it can add quality and integrity to your entire awards process.
But a nomination requirement also requires a bit more work and management from the awards organisers. No problem. There are proven ways to keep your nomination process easy, accessible and efficient for all your program participants.
Let’s go over some of those ways!
Providing clear instructions and procedures from the outset is key to setting up your nominators and nominees for success. On your awards website, lay out how to enter the program with step-by-step instructions. Provide important information and dates, and let your participants know how the nomination process works.
In Award Force, for example, it’s easy to include nomination guidelines or other helpful information directly on your home page. You can create as much content as you want to share in “about pages,” with the ability to add photos, videos and more.
Clear communication about your awards program and the nomination process can significantly reduce support requests later on, saving your team precious time and energy.
Think about what you and your judges will need to judge awards submissions and build out your nomination form accordingly.
Consider supporting documents for your nominator. What will you need for the nomination approval? You might want to request documents such as:
Once you’ve decided what the nomination should include, be sure to include that information on your awards website as we talked about previously, so your nominators know what they need to prepare before they start the nomination process.
Award Force supports attachments of any kind, making it easy for nominators to send in video nominations or “shoutouts” or attach relevant images, audio and more.
Now that you’ve organised your nomination form and submission requirements, it’s a good time to think about your actual process. How can you cut down on nominations that just don’t meet your program requirements? How can you create a process that actually saves time for your program managers?
One effective way to ensure you only receive nominations that meet your criteria is to set up an eligibility round to automatically divert ineligible nominations.
Award Force makes this process very easy, allowing you to set up an eligibility round that elegantly redirects ineligible nominations while allowing eligible nominations to seamlessly continue with their submission. The eligibility screener can be used to lock/unlock subsequent sections of the nomination form, apply to individual categories, has built-in notification and content settings and more.
Now that you’ve communicated your awards nomination process, and submission requirements and weeded out ineligible nominations, it’s time to streamline your nomination process to make it a smooth experience for everyone.
One way to do this is to automate the process through your awards management software. Award Force enables you to create automated workflows to move the nomination through your submission process.
For example, you can set up a workflow so that when a nomination is submitted, it is immediately sent to the nominee for review and approval. The nominee could add additional information to the nomination or edit any existing information, and then accept or decline the nomination to move it forward to your judges. And all this can be done without any manual effort from the awards manager and is handled completely by a feature called review flow. Major time-saver! Learn more about review flow in Award Force.
Your awards program participants will want to receive updates on their nominations, so it’s important to communicate status updates as submissions move through your awards lifecycle.
To make this process easy and streamlined, consider automating notifications based on triggers in your awards program. In Award Force, for example, when a nomination is submitted, you can send a notification email or SMS to the nominator and the nominee. When the nomination is approved, you can send another. When the nomination goes to judging—another. There are endless actions that can be taken to serve as a trigger for an automation notification.
Award Force also provides a broadcast email function, where you can send or schedule bulk emails to a specific group of program participants. For example, you could send submission reminders to nominators who started a submission but did not finish it. You could send important program announcements to finalists. The broadcast feature includes header and footer image placements and also includes merge tags, so you can send personalised, relevant communications to your awards community with ease. And if you have partners or sponsors, ensure exposure for them at the same time!
Once your awards program wraps up for the season, there is still work to be done, especially if you want to continue to optimise and streamline your awards process. Reach out to your nominators and ask them for feedback. What worked? What didn’t? What feedback can they provide? Reach out to your nominees and judges too.
The data you collect from soliciting feedback can help make your program even better, next season-–and it shows your awards community that you care.
In conclusion, creating an easy nomination process for awards can certainly be done. Using an awards management software plus implementing these tips and strategies above can provide a seamless experience for your nominators, nominees, judges and awards program team.
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