The triple-whammy benefits of entering the #UnAwards16

GovDelivery is proud to be the official partner for the Comms2point0 UnAwards16.

It’s easy to talk yourself out of entering an industry award. You’re busy, you have meetings to be at, emails to respond to and an ever-growing ‘to do’ list. But do you know what, so does everyone else. And this time next year you’ll be in exactly the same place, and probably always will be.

Where you can be different is to create a small amount of space to zone in on entering an award, and namely the #UnAwards16.

There has never been a more important time to celebrate and showcase your hard work and results.

Here are three compelling reasons why you should enter RIGHT NOW…

1. Winning an award, or being shortlisted, gets you noticed, both externally with your peers, and internally with your colleagues and bosses. In these times of increased scrutiny, and increasing cuts to budgets and teams, you need to take action and do everything you can to show your worth and contribution. There aren’t many better ways of doing this than by earning recognition from your industry. Think of it as potentially helping to save your job, or at least prompt those making the cuts to think twice about the repercussions of further cuts to you and your team.

2. Working together in your team on an entry is good for morale and a timely reminder of projects you worked hard to create and deliver, and which have probably long been forgotten. Let’s face it, three months is a long time in communications. Don’t let your efforts wither on the vine – be proud of them and make the time to enter. I experienced this first-hand when I went to work at a low-performing council 15 years ago. Winning some awards for our subsequent work acted as a real boost, not just to the team but to the organisation, the leader and the chief executive. I still have the hand-written “well done card” one particular chief exec sent to me after an award win. That speaks volumes.

3. The discipline of completing the UnAwards16 entry template is a really useful exercise. If you feel your entry is a little weak it can help you to identify areas to improve upon in your next campaign or plan. If you find you’re lacking the analytics, proven ROI and positive outcomes, it can act as a prompt to look at strengthening this on your next project or campaign. And of course, if your entry is strong it serves as a powerful reminder that you have done great things – report them upwards, share them across your networks, write a blog post about your learning and add the project to your LinkedIn profile.

There you go, three great reasons.

And here’s one more reason for good luck – if you enter you might just win one of 18 UnAwards up for grabs.

It’s a truism that the best work doesn’t always win an award – the best work ‘entered’ into awards wins. There’s a difference. But you can’t complain if you don’t give it a shot.

So gather your evidence, sit somewhere quiet with a nice cup of tea or coffee and you can nail a great entry (or two or three – you can enter your work in more than one category) inside 30 minutes. You’ll not regret it.

 

What are the UnAwards?

The UnAwards, now in their third year, recognise the best communications, PR, marketing and digital work being delivered across all sectors in the UK.

This year’s theme is team work and collaboration. This is a chance to showcase your best work – whether you’re part of a small team or a large one – highlighting what you deliver and achieve has never been more important.

There are 18 categories to enter, including ‘Best use of email’, ‘Comms team of the year’, and the ‘Lifetime Achievement UnAward’. It’s free to enter the UnAwards16 and the entry form is deliberately simple to complete.

Entries close at midnight on 31 October.

You can find out all about the UnAwards16 here.

And save 1 December in your diary to be at the coolest awards event in the industry. It’s a unique chance to network with other brilliant people from across the UK. You can book your tickets here (last year’s event was a complete sell-out so don’t hang around)

A big, big thank you to our friends at GovDelivery for being our official partner for the #UnAwards16. Their support and enthusiasm for both the UnAwards and the wider comms and digital industry is much needed and much appreciated.

Darren Caveney is co-creator of comms2point0 and organiser of the #UnAwards16

Follow Darren on Twitter @darrencaveney