Client case study Driving program efficiency + increased entries Trade Association Forum relies on Award Force to streamline awards, save time Reviewer:Harry Shackleton,Commercial Director, Trade Association Forum Reviewer: Harry Shackleton,Commercial Director, Trade Association Forum Fast facts about Trade Association Forum Industry: Association awards Location: London, England Award Force client: Client since 2023 Employees: 0-50 employees Watch the video Listen to Harry Shackleton talk about his experience inmaking the switch to Award Force. https://vimeo.com/1113507672?share=copyVideo can't be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Award Force case study: Harry Shackleton with the Trade Association Forum (https://vimeo.com/1113507672?share=copy) Background A community of associations across the UK The winners of the 2025 Trade Association Awards Trade Association Forum is the UK’s ‘association of associations’, a community of 180 trade associations encouraging the development and sharing of best practice among UK trade associations and promoting the role of effective trade associations to government, industry and the wider public. Trade associations are a vital part of UK society, contributing to economic growth, job creation, skills development and much more. One of TAF’s most important roles is to champion the value of trade associations to government, industry and the wider public. About the program A photo contest using VIP scoring + public voting The Trade Association Awards recognise, reward and promote best practice among trade associations in the UK. Their prestigious award ceremony is eagerly anticipated by trade associations across the UK as a chance to showcase their hard work and achievements. The awards program includes 18 categories celebrating the best of the UK association sector, split into three thematic areas to recognise the work of associations to 1) engage, 2) improve and 3) lead. Program challenges before Award Force Goodbye clunky, outdated system. Hello Award Force. “Before adopting Award Force, we’d used another award management platform, which we found to be quite clunky, and before that, we’d done everything manually,” said Harry Shackleton, TAF Commercial Director. “So having an integrated platform that does everything has made a real difference, not just to staff time, but to everyone who enters and judges the awards. And we’ve seen an uptick in entry numbers because of it.” Previous system Clunky awards management system Additional admin time Fragmented processes Award Force Modern, online system User-friendly entry portral Streamlined awards management Easy online management The Award Force choice A modern, centralised platform to streamline the entire awards lifecycle Adopting Award Force made a real difference to how we manage the awards, not only from saving staff time and manual processing, but also helping everyone understand exactly what’s needed,” Shackleton said. “Adopting Award Force made a real difference to how we manage the awards, not only from saving staff time and manual processing, but also helping everyone understand exactly what’s needed,” Shackleton said. “By having a one platform where everything is in one place, it’s also enabled me to have a much better view on how the awards are performing. From tracking the number of entries to tracking the commercial performance of the awards, it’s been real lifesaver to have that one single dashboard where you can see exactly what’s going on at any point.” Favourite features Powerful program configuration that is flexible and easy to use Powerful + flexible configuration “One of the most useful things about Award Force is its high level of customisation,” Shackleton said. “We’ve been able to not only put everything in the TAF brand, but we’ve also completely customised the entry process, the judging process, and how we take payments depending on whether people are members and other factors. “You can change anything and everything about the system, and that makes for a much better user experience. So we’ve designed some that works specifically for our members, and we’ve seen an uptick in entries because of it.” It really streamlines that user experience, which is the biggest barrier for us in terms of getting people registered and getting them to submit their entry. That has been a huge, huge benefit for us.” Time savings for entrants “People who re-enter the awards year on year don’t need to create new accounts. The system remembers them, and it even remembers them if they’ve used Award Force to enter other awards. It really streamlines that user experience, which is the biggest barrier for us in terms of getting people registered and getting them to submit their entry. That has been a huge, huge benefit for us.” The Award Force results Increased entries Happy community Improved branded experience Admin time-savings Read more testimonials