If you’re thinking of entering your business for an award this year – maybe a local business awards or one of the prestigious industry accolades – preparation is key.
Even if the award you a planning to enter hasn’t opened for entries yet, you can get a good idea of what they will be looking from last year’s criteria. You could drop the organisers an email to check they aren’t planning to make major changes to the entry process and, of not, get an early start on your entry.
Having been involved in the judging for the British Hairdressing Business Awards on several occasions in our old roles on HJ, here’s a few tips that might help make your entry stand out from the rest.
Use a mix of words and images
When you’re judging numerous entries, being faced with pages of densely packed text can be daunting. Break your written entry up with images, and some white space. Also, an image can often speak volumes about a happy team or a busy salon.
Pull out Quotes
Another great way to break up text and highlight key points is to use pull-out quotes. Just like magazines use to make their pages look more interesting, take a quote from a particular page and repeat it in big, bold letters somewhere else on the page. It can make the design of the page more interesting and stress a particular strength of your business.
Use Your Own Voice
Even if you get someone else to help write your entry, make sure it’s written in your voice. If you do employ someone to write it, make sure they interview you and get a real feel for your personality. We would suggest always writing in the first person, so that it sound like its coming from the heart.
Follow the criteria
It sounds obvious, but a lot of entries lose out because they don’t cover off all the entry criteria. Sometime an entry can look spectacular and read beautifully, but if the criteria aren’t covered, it won’t win or even make the shortlist. To make the judges’ life easier, it’s a good idea to head up each section of the entry with the specific criteria you are addressing.