The HRville guide to...

It’s nice to get recognition for your work. A simple thank you – as rare as it might be – is often enough. A pay rise is even better. But the kind of recognition that carries a bit more weight comes in the form of an industry award.

An award looks good on a CV, can open the odd door, and usually involves a bit of media coverage. And when it comes to winning one, there’s not a great deal of mystery to it.

If you feel you’ve done well in your work, submit an award entry. And if the judges agree with you, you could find yourself on stage next to a reasonably famous TV host grasping a lump of metal or glass.

As I say, no mystery. But there are a few tips you might want to follow to increase your chances.

Keep notes

Keep an ongoing record of your achievements throughout the year. If you’re entering a team award, keep notes on what you’ve done collectively. When it comes to putting together an awards submission you can refer back to your notes to help populate your entry.

Most awards require you to provide metrics and measurements for your achievements, so a head for figures is a key skill for the process. The more detailed your notes are, the easier it will be to put together a clear, compelling submission full of the right kind of information.

Check the list

There are dozens of HR industry and related awards throughout the year. A Google search for ‘HR awards’ will give you an idea of just how many there are.

However, the abundance of HR awards means a couple of things. Firstly, you need to  choose carefully which ones are right for your role and sector. And secondly, you need to choose the ones that are worth entering.

It’s an unfortunate fact that a number of HR awards wouldn’t be missed if they were suddenly cancelled.

Fortunately however, there are lots of long-established, credible awards out there that merit your attention. It’s not my place to tell you which ones they are. You’ll probably already know thanks to your industry experience. Or you can usually tell by the quality of their websites. (Hint – if they play music after loading, have suspiciously empty photo galleries or send you dizzy with animated images, you might want to look elsewhere.)

Ask your colleagues

When putting together a submission, don’t rely just on your own perception of your or your team’s recent successes. The people around you will offer a different viewpoint of what you’ve achieved (or what you haven’t) over the past year. This is a helpful alternative view – as well as a healthy pinch of pragmatism that might help to inject a bit of reality into your entry.

So if you can call on their time, ask colleagues – preferably managers too – to put together some thoughts on why they think you might win an award.

Learn from other winners

Do your research into winners of previous awards. Look at exactly what they achieved and how they did it, and see if there are parallels with what you’ve done.

Most awards websites will have a post-awards showcase of the winners, which typically include interviews, video clips and a breakdown of the judges’ comments. This is all useful insight into why they won, and could give you plenty of steer when it comes to putting your own entry together.

Give yourself time

Don’t be fooled into thinking you can rush off an entry at the last minute. If an award is worth winning, then the submission is worth taking time over.

Submissions need to be thorough, and a judge can tell at fifty paces if you’ve cobbled it together at the last minute. Treat it as an important piece of work and devote an appropriate amount of time to it.

Also, if you’re entering more than one award – whether it’s entering for different awards ceremonies or for multiple categories in one ceremony – be prepared to write sufficiently different submissions for each one.

Just as you wouldn’t send one generic CV and application letter for a number of different jobs, you shouldn’t just have one awards submission. Instead, tailor your submissions and the information they contain for each award.

On this point, it really is worthwhile entering more than one award. It might seem shameless, but it’s like winning a tombola – the more entries you have (provided your submissions are strong), the more chance you’ll have of walking away with a gong.

Set a budget

Unfortunately, many industry awards require a submission fee, which can be anywhere up to a few hundred pounds. This comes down to the brutal truth about most awards ceremonies, which is that they are revenue-generating vehicles for their organisers. This doesn’t necessarily dilute their integrity, but it does explain the costs for those who take part.

For the same reason, bear in mind that if you’re shortlisted, you’ll probably have to pay to attend the ceremony, particular if it’s a sit-down, black-tie-and-ballgown affair.

So, if you’re planning in putting your hat into the ring for dozens of awards this year, you’d better have a significant kitty set aside. And some pretty smart evening wear too, of course.

About the author

John Eccleston

John is a writer and editor who has written about HR and recruitment, among other topics, for as long as he can remember. If he's not at his keyboard, you'll probably find him in the kitchen, at a pub quiz, or buying more trainers.