Silver Bucks’ top five tips for submitting an award-winning entry
Writing a health tech award entry can be both exciting and daunting. The prospect of showcasing your hard work, innovation and achievements to a panel of judges is thrilling, but the pressure to present your best can be intimidating. Whether you’re aiming for industry recognition or seeking to elevate your brand’s reputation, these top five tips for creating a digital health award entry will help you stand out from the crowd.
Start early
The judges are experienced in their field and can spot a rushed entry a mile off. Writing a good entry takes time and really isn’t something that should be left to the last minute.
- Get to know the application process, the forms and questions in detail.
- Each award category will have specific guidelines and requirements that you need to meet, make sure you know what they are.
- Allow yourself time to plan what you want to say and sense check your entry with colleagues before you submit it.
- An award entry is an important piece of work. If you’re serious about your entry don’t just allocate it to the most junior member of the team to work on alone.
Know your audience and make their life easy
Award entries can be long and the judges are likely to have to read through lots of submissions. They may also be judging multiple categories so to stand the best chance you need to do everything you can to make their life easy.
- Use subheadings to make your key points so that a judge skim-reading your entry will understand why you should win.
- If the entry system allows you to, use bullet points to highlight the key points.
- Although it’s not always possible in the NHS, use plain English where possible so your entry is clear and easy to understand.
It’s all about the evidence, so prove it
The devil is in the detail, and that’s so true when it comes to writing an award-winning entry.
- Read the questions carefully and answer all parts accurately.
- Tell a compelling story that grips the judge’s attention.
- Make it obvious why you should win. Prove your key points with relevant data and statistics, and frontload them in your responses.
- Only you know the full detail so make sure it is included. It sounds obvious, but if you’re missing any key points in the submission the judge won’t know about them.
Never, ever go over the word count!
It may sound simple, but if there’s a word count make sure that you don’t exceed it or you may be instantly excluded!
- Ruthlessly edit your entry, removing all unnecessary waffle to make room for your killer points.
- Many awards allow you to submit appendices or additional documents to support your entry. Make your claims in the entry, back it up with evidence, and give more detail in an appendix.
Reflect and share
Your entry isn’t simply a form to fill in, but an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate what you’ve achieved.
- Make sure your submission looks back at exemplary performance but also demonstrates how you are looking forward and seeking out continuous improvement.
- Even if you don’t win this time, reflecting back is a great way to remember and celebrate your achievements as a team.
Best of luck in your upcoming health tech award entries!
Did you know we can help with writing award entries? If you’d like support or guidance from our team, get in touch.