Tips for Crafting an Award-Winning Submission

We ask our clients and internal decision makers one important question before every collaboration: “How will success be determined and measured on this project?” Many of you are likely asking the same question as you and your team start to think about your award entries for the 2017 Virginia Public Relations Awards.

Knowing what the judges are looking for is key to writing an award-winning submission. Here are some tips to ensure you are hitting all the bullet points they’re looking for.

• All narrative summaries should hit in the following buckets: research, planning, execution/implementation, evaluation, and creativity + technical excellence.
• Before drafting your summary, jot down the basics of your project: goals, objectives, audience, budget, etc.
• Submissions are NOT judged by the Richmond PRSA chapter; they’ll be judged by a similar-sized chapter outside of Virginia. Don’t assume the judge will know anything about your organization or the project.
• Be strategic with the documentation you attach to your submission, but use caution. The attachments are optional fields and when the judges are scoring dozens of entries in a short amount of time, they may not read the attachments as thoroughly as they do with the narrative summary. Don’t bury your critical information here.
• When uploading documentation, save the files to a name that quickly identifies what it is. Uploading “scan_2349dksd.pdf” tells the judge nothing, but “New York Times Press Clip – Nov. 11 2016” is more helpful.
• BONUS: This is more for the night of the awards, but remember, your project title and your executive summary are what is used if you win. The title is printed on the crystal awards and the executive summary is used by our emcee to showcase your project. Also, if you have room left for documentation, upload your company/client logo and a representative image of your project. This will ensure your project is accurately represented if you take home an award.

The early deadline for submissions is February 27, 2017. The regular deadline is March 6, 2017. For additional questions, contact Second Vice President of Awards, Casey Prentice at cprentice@hodgespart.com.