With 19 categories to choose from, it’s highly likely that you have done, or are currently doing, something that could be recognised as award-worthy by the Best Business Women Awards 2024.

But being worthy of an award and actually winning the award are two very different things. Getting shortlisted and making it to the finalist stage isn’t only about what you believe you have done well – it’s primarily about the level of impact your story has had on the judges.

In the following article, we’ll outline eight top tips to ensure that you do yourself justice when you decide to enter this year’s Best Business Women Awards. Not only will these tips help you to maximise your chances of winning, they will also help to make the process of planning and writing the submission much less daunting.

In order to win a category of the Best Business Women Award 2024, you will have to impress the judges in approximately 2,500 words (depending on the category you choose), which means that it’s vital to choose your words and evidence carefully.

So how do you ensure that your submission stands out from the rest? Here are eight top tips suggested by our team of specialist Award Entry Writers at Boost Awards:

TIP #1: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE

Many a promising award submission has been scuppered by an entrant failing to check an award scheme’s key information. Before you even think about writing the submission, make sure you check the deadline date and time, category eligibility and the general entry rules.

In the case of the Best Business Women Awards 2022, entries will close at 6pm on 6th June1 and no deadline extension will be offered.

Don’t leave it to the last minute.

TIP #2: EVIDENCE

Being great is not enough when entering awards, it is all about proving your greatness, which is usually much harder. Imagine yourself in a court of law defending your assertion that you are the best. If you said “customers love our new service” what would the opposing council say? “Prove it!” So, do your research and pepper your achievements with pound signs, percentages, numbers, graphs, photos and diagrams. You will find stats and images take a smaller chunk out of the word allocation than rambling unsubstantiated PR waffle, and they are infinitely more likely to be believed.

TIP #3: INSPIRATION AND ACHIEVEMENTS, NOT PERSPIRATION

So much of business is 10% inspiration 90% perspiration (and typically 0% assessment of effectiveness). Award submissions should balance the three. The temptation is to write about what you did, but the judges will be equally (if not more) interested in your research/inspiration and evidence of achievements.

TIP #4: PLAN YOUR SUBMISSION

2,500 words is not a lot, but you can quickly find yourself running out of words with plenty of your story left to cover. Before you start writing you should map out your submission, listing your headings and subheadings and how many words you will allow yourself for each. We promise that this will be worthwhile, usually saving you time and effort in the long run.

TIP #5: TELL A STORY

Judges can spot a copy-paste job a mile off. The best approach is to write it like a story, starting with your planned structure and nothing else. Only when you have the story nailed should you copy the facts, stats, images and evidence across to ensure it’s as well-evidenced as possible.

TIP #6: GET SOMEONE ELSE TO READ IT

Get someone as objective as possible to read your draft. Make sure they are not a member of your organisation and make sure they are not familiar with the sort of jargon you use within your sector. The submission should be easy to understand, even for a teenager. There is no excuse for jargon or hard-to-read management-speak.

TIP #7: USE IMAGES WISELY

Yes, a picture tells a thousand words, but badly used graphs, diagrams and photos can often do more harm than good. Images are good, but only if they make sense at a glance, add value and have a clear purpose. Captions are a must!

TIP #8: RECYCLE/REPURPOSE YOUR ENTRY!

Having spent all that time and effort writing a thorough award entry, it would be a travesty not to use it again. So find some more awards to enter it into – you can see a full list of other awards online free of charge at the Boost’s UK Awards List website.

We hope you find these tips valuable and we wish you the best of luck when entering the Best Business Women Awards!

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand planning your submission, building a survey to gain evidence, or writing the submission entirely from scratch, please feel free to contact the awards experts at Boost info@boost-awards.co.uk

Boost Awards is the world’s first and largest awards entry consultancy. The team has helped 400 multinational and SME clients to win more than 1,300 awards across all sectors.