We all love a win, and recognition! Awards from professional associations are a fantastic way to celebrate your team's efforts and garner publicity for your firm. But it's no small effort to assemble an award submittal that checks all the boxes and resonates with jurists. Judging panels sometimes include professionals from outside the industry—for a fresh perspective—and always include a few sticklers that score "by the book." In Episode 37 of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons and Melissa Richey, two past SMPS award program judges, share their experiences as judges and 10 helpful tips to make the award submittal process less daunting, targeted to the judging panel, and more likely to bring home a win!
CPSM CEU Credits: 0.5 | Domain: 5
Podcast Transcript
Welcome to The Shortlist.
We are exploring all things AEC marketing to help your firm win The Shortlist.
I'm your host, Wendy Simmons, and each episode, I'll be joined by one of my team members from Middle of Six to answer your questions.
Today, we have Melissa Richey back in the podcast hot seat to share our top 10 tips for award submittals.
Hey, Melissa.
Hi, Wendy.
Hi, everybody.
Well, we've presented this content to a couple SMPS chapters, and with award submittal season right upon us, we thought this might be a great podcast episode to share our own top 10 tips and maybe a little, a few anecdotes from doing a lot of award submittals over the years.
So Melissa, do you want to kick us off?
Yeah, I love the award submittal topic.
It's always a fun thing to do outside of your other marketing duties.
It's just a good way to get to know other people on your team, other folks you work with.
So tip number one is to start with the end in mind.
What do we mean by that?
That means when you win this big project that you've been planning for for years, you know you want to submit that for an award.
So go back and see what award submission programs might be suitable for the project.
Pull the past application so you see what has been asked for.
And it'll help you understand what type of content you should be planning for as the project progresses.
And think about what is the winning strategy to get this award.
Yeah, and part of starting with the end of mind is having a calendar of the award you typically submit for.
They don't normally change dates too much, so you're looking kind of the spring or the fall time period.
And if you always submit for an AGC award or a NAOP or SMPS, you can rely that it's generally going to be in the same time.
So creating a calendar, whether it's on Outlook or some other system, so you're either being pinged or reminded within the, you know, maybe giving yourself like three months warning.
Okay, here we go.
Let's look at what projects do we want to submit and not being surprised by the amount of effort it's going to take to submit on any kind of project.
And that kind of goes a little bit into the go-no-go on your pursuits.
If you know you've got an award submission deadline and it's a really important award that the firm wants to win, then that could be a consideration in your go-no-go is whether the marketing team has time to do a proposal and an award submittal.
That's such a good tip and something that maybe we don't think about until we're in the middle of it and feeling like, wow, we also have these award submittals.
They take up space just like anything else that we're working on in marketing.
And for some firms that track their hours to things, even if it's not a proposal-related item, you can probably estimate year over year how much time it takes to put one of these together.
Maybe 20 hours for the marketing team could be more depending on the depth of the submittal, so don't discount that amount of effort.
And sort of related to that, thinking about the whole process as a team effort, that's tip number two for us.
You know, make it a team effort.
It's not necessarily just your firm contributing, although it definitely could be, who inside of your firm needs to add content or pull data or tell stories to create a really great awards submittal.
And then if you are partnering with a general contractor, an architect engineer who you worked on the project with, you know, what's it like to get together with their team, brainstorm the stories they may have, and I'm sure that they will, have a perspective different than your seat, you know, to be able to tell something about really the interesting below-grade stuff that happened, or the end-user results, that sort of thing.
So think about the larger team and then plan for some time to incorporate them and really get them into, like, the storytelling part of the awards submittal.
Yeah, and some awards submissions have an interview process.
I'm thinking of NAOP, Night of the Stars.
You do have to go to an interview to present your award submission, so that will also help with that collaboration and team camaraderie if you're working on the submission together, and then having to go do a presentation to win the award as well.
Yeah, that's a good point, right?
The team needs to all be aware of what was going on and be aligned.
I'm like, what's the story?
How are we going to tell this in a really great, fun, interesting way?
And so if they're contributing early and not being surprised by that interview, you're a step ahead.
Yeah, I think it's another great thing to remember is to have a good organized system for your award submissions.
So organize them by year by professional association.
So it's easy to go back and see what did they ask last time?
Well, that brings us to tip number three, which may seem obvious, but it's to follow the directions.
I'm sure everyone listening is a all star marketer who always follows the letter of the law.
But having been on a jury panel in the past, you might be surprised at the times where people didn't address all the criteria or didn't quite answer the question.
And so it makes it really hard for the jury to judge if you haven't provided all the necessary information.
Melissa and I have had the chance to be on the jury panels for some SNPS awards.
And we know from personal experience that there are a variety of personalities on those panels.
And some people are sticklers for the rules.
And that's great, right?
You know, you need to have those people in your group.
Others are a little more flexible.
But don't be surprised if someone is grading very critically based on your awards and medals.
So follow those directions.
So tip number four is don't forget the facts and figures.
You obviously need to tell the story of the project and have compelling graphics and visuals, but you also need data.
I would say this is especially important if you're going after an SNPS marketing communication award, the national SNPS awards.
They want data showing how you achieved your goals.
So that kind of goes back to starting with the end in mind, knowing what you're going to have to collect, but having that information at your hands, ready to go in for the submission.
And then you can use that data in other parts of your marketing.
Are you putting together a case study?
Is this project going to have an infographic related to it?
It's really nice to have some numbers that can turn into graphical visual elements to support your storytelling even beyond the award submittal.
So going back to the judging panel, because I mentioned there can be some sticklers there, but it's also important to just consider that some folks on the panel may not be in the AEC industry.
They're bringing a different perspective or they're part of the community or whatever it might be.
So think about that audience, a varied audience.
And so what we would recommend is like avoiding jargon and spelling out acronyms, making it easier for anyone, whoever is reading the awards submittal, to understand the story, the value that your team brought, all of that without having to translate or just lose interest when they're reading kind of a jargon packed awards submittal.
So number six is to plan your photography.
Back to that first one of starting with the end in mind, thinking about a before and after photo, making sure you've got the same angle, talking with the design team to understand what are the great shots that are going to be compelling images once this project is done and thinking about that.
Landscape architecture is one where you probably need three years for the landscape to grow in before it's ready to be photographed and before it may decline in lack of maintenance.
So thinking that through and being prepared for what the photography looks like is really important.
And with a lot of awards and medals having a multiple year duration that a project might be eligible, you can use that to your advantage.
You could start the process in year one and then realize, oh, we don't really have that visual element yet.
But let's flag that for the summer when it's in the height of its beauty or whatever it might be, because we want to be able to tell that story or like when students are in class or whatever it might be.
Right.
So planning for the photography is really important.
And then that kind of dovetails nicely into our tip number seven, which is to not be surprised by video.
Video is everywhere.
Right.
Now we're all watching that on all of our social media channels, and there's a drive to have more storytelling through video.
And we're seeing this pop up in some award submittals too, which is fantastic.
It's really awesome.
But you do not want to be submitting the last details of your award and then say, oh darn it, they asked for an optional video or do you want to submit a link to something?
You're like, we don't have that.
So certainly read through all of the instructions to make sure there's not going to be a surprise.
But if for some reason it is not top of mind, just start thinking about that in those kind of early stages.
What could we say?
Who could we interview?
What is there to show that kind of brings the project to life through video?
I think that's a good point.
The video may not necessarily be just the project itself.
You might be wanting to interview the students who go to that school, if it's a school submission, or the impact of the project on the community.
So kind of getting creative of how that video might be used is another little add-on tip there.
And I would say, I'll just keep repeating this in lots of different formats, but let's not also be too freaked out about video being so perfect and polished.
I mean, that's wonderful if you have the budget and the time and the resources to do that, but a lot can be done on your cell phone, for sure.
And there's actually kind of like a very approachable realness to handheld video.
So if there's a requirement for video, start practicing and playing around with what you can do in-house because you might be surprised it's going to work out pretty well.
Yeah, there was a submission to the SNPS National Awards that had that type of project team on the site with probably iPhone camera photos.
And it was really compelling because the people felt real and they were on the site.
So I echo Wendy's point there.
All right.
Well, we have another tip related to visuals.
I mean, we just can't underscore this enough how important they are.
So tip number eight is just considering the visuals all together, especially with so many submittals being electronic.
And thank goodness they are right.
We're not having to like put together these physical boards that need to be shipped or delivered as often.
I mean, that still can happen.
You're not having to produce as many hard copy binders to submit.
But then think about all of the elements and how will those be reproduced?
Are they being uploaded to a site that there is a people's choice component?
And just the general public gets to look at your content and review that.
What's confidential versus not confidential?
You know, just think through all of the visuals from what will appeal to the panel, the public, and then also present really well online.
Yeah, I can think of an example where it can be tempting, like say you read at a website and you want to put a bunch of screen captures of the website into your visuals.
But if it's then going on a laptop size screen, you're not going to be able to read the content or really get the effect of the website by doing that.
So just thinking that through of how is this going to reflect?
Our next tip is proofread.
Just like any other deliverable you're going to put out of your marketing department, we don't want to distract anyone reviewing the information with typos or grammatical errors.
And it doesn't show well for your firm or your department.
So what's the best practice to make sure you catch all those is have a fresh set of eyes review your submission, maybe more than one or two.
Even those people that you brought in from the project team to help write the submission, letting more eyes on it, people are going to see different things, or even just for syntax and understanding of the project.
So we kind of maybe combined tips nine and 10 together.
proofread, proofread, proofread.
Yep, outside perspective.
Yep.
No, it's good.
It's good.
proofread, proofread, proofread, and get an outside perspective.
But they kind of reminds me that an important element we didn't kind of hit up at the top is starting early.
So when you're planning and looking ahead for the award submittals and like starting with the end in mind, all of that influences these last two tips at the end.
If you don't have enough time to put together a quality award submittal, like how is that going to reflect on your firm or the team altogether?
Building in enough space for outside reviewers who are super busy to take some time and provide meaningful feedback is really important.
And like anything we do in marketing, there's a tendency to allow the schedule to push enough where QC gets squished, right?
We just want to have enough time.
So do yourself a favor and elbow and be firm about preserving some of that QC time because in awards and medals, I really just think there's no room for messiness.
It will reflect in your scoring.
Yeah.
And there's so many page limits of an abstract that maybe is only 250 words.
So yes, you have to cut it down for length, but you need to make sure that the story is still coming through.
So you may be filling in bits and pieces because you made it shorter, but that's why someone else reading it maybe isn't getting it.
And then you know you got to go back to the drawing board on writing those type page limits.
Those are our 10 tips.
And we think they're probably things that you already know or you keep in mind, but it's nice to just have it spelled out right in front of you.
Maybe there's a few elements of this that you can take away or implement for your own kind of award submittal process.
You know, generally, we like to end this with a little bit of like encouragement that it can feel really like a lot of extra work to do.
To do the award submittals, it is hard when you have competing deadlines for proposals, which of course are like, you know, revenue generating.
But Melissa and I just definitely encourage everyone to participate.
Participate in the SNPS awards or also the industry awards to help promote your firm.
It can be kind of cool, fun team building, whether it's within your internal team or if you're partnering outside.
And then you get so much great content that can be used in your proposals on your website for press releases.
It's definitely worth the effort to go through that longer awards middle process so that you have some great content.
So go out there, do it, don't be shy and just kind of keep these tips in mind.
So we've, Melissa, you and I have both been jurists for SNPS Seattle Rain Awards, and I was a jurist on the MCA for National Awards last year.
That was a really helpful experience, I think, for me personally.
And we should talk a little bit about what we learned in participating on those juries, because, you know, volunteer organizations, they need help, they want eyes.
It's a lot to judge and review in a meaningful way, all of the submittals.
And then for us, we get to see, how are people explaining their process?
How are they showing the results?
Is it real?
Is there like meat on it?
Or is it, does it feel kind of fluffy and a little too light?
So I don't know, I thought we could just share some of our experiences and lessons learned from that.
So I was a jury for the S&PS Seattle Rain Awards a couple of years ago, and I found it to be a really interesting and rewarding process.
One, it was just great to see all of the work that our peers and colleagues have done in the industry.
There weren't a ton of submissions, some categories only had one or two.
So if you're wondering, maybe think about what category could this fall into.
You can look back and see what the submissions were in the different categories.
So you can use that as a strategy to decide where does this project fit, or while this category is always really slim, do we have something that would fit into submitting for that?
So it was interesting to hear perspectives from people outside the industry on our award submittal to SNPS Seattle.
They brought their perspective.
It was a learning experience for me.
There was some people from creative agencies on the panel I was with.
And so I thought that was pretty interesting to just get their feedback on our industry.
If it comes up in your world, you know, if you get the email, the call for jurists, MCA is now open to people beyond those who have the CPSM certification.
So if that shows up in your email, you might consider it as a way to be able to do a really focused volunteer activity.
You know, you'll get a lot out of it.
I'd say I got just as much out of it as I was giving.
And it was really nice to connect with the other jurists.
But then you also learn some things like, you know, this may not be universal for every SNPS chapter, but for Seattle, for sure.
And I'm pretty sure the National Awards, if you submit in a category that you think is right, but maybe they don't think is quite the right fit once they review your submittal, they'll move it, they'll put it in the appropriate category.
So we've gotten that question before in webinars, which category there's a little bit of overlap or has elements of both?
Well, you know, submit in the one that you think is right, but I think SNPS has your best interest in mind, and they will make sure you're in the right spot and not going to be thrown out because of what the other submittals were in that category.
We have seen the SNPS Seattle Rain Awards create new categories for award submissions in the past.
So don't let the category scare you off.
Right.
Yeah.
And we submitted the podcast for the National Award last year and it was great.
We won, but it's under social media and like the subcategory of subcategory.
I would imagine that that might evolve too.
So every year there's some small changes to be more relevant to what's going on out there and like all of our marketing initiatives.
Yeah.
Another great thing, even if you're not on the jury, is for national, all these submissions are online in a database.
So if you want some inspiration or see what other folks have been doing, go check out that award gallery on Nationals website.
And there's a lot of good stuff to look at.
Hot tip.
That's what our team does.
We actually get lunch together and then we all share our favorites, whether it's like something really unique that we saw or just really well executed or a fantastic write up.
I mean, we get takeaways every year from that.
And that's been a tradition now for a while here at Middle of Six.
Wendy, you were on the panel for the MCAs in a particular category.
What was that experience like?
Well, it was really great.
Different than the local awards, we weren't collaborating as much.
It was a little more siloed, but that wasn't a problem.
It meant that I was able to review the category that I was judging in on my own time.
They provided a template for the review to be done in so that you could look at what you're supposed to be judging, what is the criteria, and then comment directly on that.
I'm pretty sure those comments are all shared with the companies that have submitted for the award.
So when Middle of Six submitted for the podcast, we got those comments, which was really awesome, super helpful.
I like that.
But I was basically doing my review alone, on my own, very quietly looking at all of the content.
I was just judging in the crisis communication category, which was fantastic.
Such an interesting topic, and really getting to take a deep dive into either situations or sort of their kind of overall crisis communication plan.
So I enjoyed it a lot, and I think maybe there were 10 submittals total.
So not an overwhelming amount of work.
But I mean, I would definitely recommend if you have an opportunity to do it at the national level, go for it.
Yeah, for the RAIN Awards, we judged independently, but then we came together as a judging panel and discussed the results and determined who the winners were in a more collaborative fashion, so it's a little different.
For the National Awards, there are so many submittals and so many jurists.
There, I can't quote the number exactly, but a couple hundred, I would guess.
And so they, I think they work on sort of keeping, minimizing the amount of effort and coordination between all those jurists.
And then I think National just has the heavy lift on reviewing the scoring and coming up with the final decision.
So, it's pretty streamlined on the National level and very fun and collaborative on the local level.
All right, that was a great discussion.
Thank you, Melissa, for teeing this conversation up.
Just a quick recap of our top 10 tips for those who are taking notes at home.
Tip number one, start with the end in mind.
Two, make it a team effort.
Three, do not forget to follow the directions.
Very important.
Four, don't forget the facts and figures.
I mean, for the SNPS Awards, that's like number one.
Come on, do that for sure.
Consider the judging panel.
And number six, plan your photography.
Number seven, do not get surprised by video.
And eight, consider the visuals.
Nine, proofread, proofread, proofread.
And 10, get an outside perspective.
I think that there's probably like at least five more tips we can put into that, but we'll save that for a different episode.
Thank you, Melissa, for joining and sharing your thoughts and sharing your experience as a jurist.
And we'll see you at the next one.
Right.
Thanks, Wendy.
Thanks, everybody.
The Shortlist is presented by Middle of Six and hosted by me, Wendy Simmons, Principal Marketing Strategist.
Our producer is Kyle Davis, with digital marketing and graphic design by the team at Middle of Six.
We want to hear from you.
If you have a question or a topic you'd like us to discuss, send an email or voice memo to theshortlistatmiddleofsix.com.
If you're looking for past episodes or more info, check out our podcast page at middleofsix.com/theshortlist.
You can follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at middleofsix.
Thanks so much for listening.
We hope you'll tell your friends and colleagues about the show, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of our upcoming episodes.
Until next time, keep on hustling.
Bye.
You're doing fine.
We're fine.
Everything is fine.
That's the drop at the end of the episode.
The Shortlist is a podcast that explores all things AEC marketing. Hosted by Middle of Six Principal, Wendy Simmons, each episode features members of the MOS team, where we take a deep dive on a wide range of topics related to AEC marketing including: proposal development, strategy, team building, business development, branding, digital marketing, and more. You can listen to our full archive of episodes here.