Award celebrations: BAFTAs, Oscars and The Brits
I heard a celebrity talking on the Graham Norton Show ages ago, can’t remember who it was, but he said something along the lines that going to the award celebrations was fantastic - at the beginning of the events - because of the palpable, excited buzz. But by the time most of the people realise their award category has been and gone (and they haven’t won), the energy declines.
I attend a fair amount of award ceremonies (strangely, not any of the ones attended by Brad Pitt), but the Graham Norton guest’s story resonated.
Nonetheless, I love going to awards. Beyond the buzz, there’s a wonderful opportunity to meet people you haven’t nattered with in ages, there’s usually a bit of wine and a good dose of hilarity.
Even without the glory of an actual award win, creating an award entry is brilliant to crystallise your achievements. And if you do get shortlisted or win, it feels so very, very good. It can support your career goals, your team, your employee engagement, business and marketing communications.
In my experience, however, award entries generally come in two forms: fairly simple and not-simple.
The first ones are rare. There is an amazing story to tell, there’s some new thinking, a solution to a problem that hasn’t happened before, there’s evidence of impacting your people and/or the businesses. The teams behind it sense the opportunity and are keen to provide the time and information to create an entry of beauty.
And then there’s the other type. The not-simple and the one most award entries fall into. The things that line up in the ‘simple’ type, need coaxing and developing and researching in this type.
However, much like some of the looks adorned by celebrities at award ceremonies, a thing of beauty doesn’t necessarily come easily.
Here are key things you’ll need:
1. A clear story. What happened, what needed solving, what have you done to fix it? Ideally the story will be quickly summarised and memorable. It’ll resonate and be remembered.
2. Key people who’ve been involved in the turnaround. Get them onboard, encourage them to share their contributions and show the work has had impact.
3. Innovation. What have you done entirely new for your business, employees, or your market? Could your work and solution help others?
4. Evidence. An award entry is not the place for fluffy, flowery words. This is about return on investment, return on value, impacts and data. It’s really important to measure, at the beginning and later.
5. Time. You’ll likely start with a skeleton of information and then each point can be researched further to show the full story, context and why it matters. Leaving it till the last minute won’t help if you need to dig deeper.
6. To not jump in too early. Judges get frustrated when a story hasn’t developed properly – when the results aren’t clear yet. Evaluate whether it’s more advantageous to wait for a different event programme or another year when you can show wider impacts to employees and the business.
7. A bit of fizz. ‘Best practice’ isn’t enough for award wins. The judges of any award programme will go through a lot of information, and the entries that shine will be the ones they’ll remember.
PR in HR can help with award entries, we’ve been doing it for years, helping many clients and their clients save time, understand the process – and win.
I’ll be very interested to hear your Awards stories – have you entered one? Do you think you have a story but aren’t entirely sure? Have you met Brad Pitt?
My door is open.
Best
Kay