Client case study Now flying business class: How Iceland Writers Retreat transformed its scholarship management system Reviewer:Sue Erbeck, General Manager Reviewer: Sue Erbeck, Iceland Writers Retreat General Manager Fast facts about Iceland Writers Retreat Industry: Literary non-profit Location: Reykjavík, Iceland Award Force client: Client since 2025 Employees: 0-50 employees Background A non-profit organisation that hosts an annual literary retreat in Reykjavík The Iceland Writers Retreat is a non-profit organisation that hosts an annual literary retreat in Reykjavík, connecting writers from around the world with Iceland’s rich literary heritage through small-group workshops led by renowned authors. Central to its mission is the Alumni Awards scholarship program, which provides financial support to writers in need—a program that has grown dramatically in recent years, attracting as many as 3,000 applicants annually. The awards program relies on an average of 40 volunteer reviewers to read and asesess the applications. To manage the program’s growth, the Retreat turned to Award Force to modernise and streamline its application collection and review process — with transformative results. About the awards A program that offers multiple full and partial funding scholarships The Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Awards are financially supported by alumni and friends of IWR and provide full and partial awards each year. The scholarships are awarded to talented writers across the globe, making their attendance possible and enriching the IWR community and program. The awards are very competitive. In 2025, the awards went to six winners from more than 3,000 applications. The recipients are chosen based primarily on two factors: The potential they demonstrate as a writer. Their need for financial support to be able to attend. As part of the application process, writers must submit a personal statement, writing samples, letters of recommendation and more. Program challenges before Award Force Manual processes at their breaking point Before adopting Award Force, the Iceland Writers Retreat managed its entire awards process manually. Applicants submitted entries via a Google Form embedded on the organisation’s website, with responses feeding into an Excel spreadsheet. From there, staff handled everything by hand: vetting applications, removing suspected spam, assigning submissions to reviewers and tracking application statuses throughout the review cycle. This approach came with significant pain points, said Sue Erbeck, IWR General Manager. Unwieldy management: Tracking hundreds to thousands of applications across spreadsheets was cumbersome and error-prone. Fragmented communication: Applicant correspondence was handled through separate email addresses, making it difficult to maintain a coherent record of what information had been sent. Security concerns: Administrators and reviewers were required to download PDF submissions directly to personal computers, creating ongoing risk of exposure to malware and viruses. Unsustainable scale: As awareness of the scholarship program grew to attract up to 3,000 applicants, continuing with manual forms and spreadsheets became untenable. Previous system Unwieldy management Fragmented communications Lack of data security Difficult to scale Award Force One-stop shop for every user Easy and fast adoption User-friendly Secure and easy application assessment The Award Force choice A single, secure awards platform Our first year of using Award Force was like flying business class after a lifetime of economy. ” – Eliza Reid, Iceland Writers Retreat Founding Director The Iceland Writers Retreat adopted Award Force to bring order. The platform replaced the patchwork of spreadsheets, email inboxes and downloaded files with a unified system that covers the entire application lifecycle — from submission to final decision. “Using Award Force is like one-stop shopping. It’s incredible that we are able to run our scholarship program from start to finish with hundreds of users — from applicants to administrators and reviewers — on a singular platform so efficiently and securely,” Erbeck said. Eliza Reid, the Founding Director of the Iceland Writers Retreat, said it this way: “Our first year of using Award Force was like flying business class after a lifetime of economy.” Favourite features Payment facilitation, real-time review tracking Payment facilitation Award Force’s built-in payment tools allowed the Iceland Writers Retreat to introduce a small application fee for the first time. “The new monetary stream helped strengthen our award fund while also keeping the number of applications to a more reasonable number,” Erbeck said. Real-time review tracking Administrators could now monitor the progress of application reviews and rankings in real time, with a clear and organised visual interface replacing the confusion of manual spreadsheet tracking. The ability to simplify this vital piece of our work is invaluable,” Erbeck said. The impact of Award Force on the Iceland Writers Retreat’s operations has been immediate and measurable. “I estimate that we saved more than 30 hours of work by using this platform. Gone are the days of countless spreadsheets and manual filing,” Erbeck said. Beyond the numbers, the organisation has experienced a meaningful qualitative shift. The process is also safer: neither administrators nor reviewers need to download outside files to their personal devices, eliminating a persistent security risk. And the team of 40+ volunteers were happy. “The Award Force platform makes this SO MUCH EASIER than the Excel grids,” one reviewer reported. “Thank you to whoever, and everyone, who got this in place.” For a small non-profit operating with limited resources, the efficiency gains are especially meaningful. “The ability to simplify this vital piece of our work is invaluable,” Erbeck said. The Award Force results Measureable results Happy reviewers Easy data insights A secure system Read more testimonials