We’re coming into awards season. The Golden Globes were held this past weekend (12 January), the Oscars will be shown next month and I love it. 

Sitting in my pyjamas in the middle of the night, half-awake, exchanging commentary with my mates and giving our opinions on the winners, speeches and fashion

It’s also comms awards season. In a few weeks I’ll be putting on my judging hat for The PRmoment Awards and spending a couple of weekends evaluating entries. If you weren’t aware, there’s a category for Employee Engagement so take a look and consider entering because, as the saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it.

Recognition matters

For employee communicators, awards are more than a pat on the back. They reinforce the strategic value of our work, boost confidence in a profession that often undersells itself, and help raise the profile of teams who are central to organisational success but frequently out of the spotlight. A strong entry can help you show senior leaders the thinking, skill and judgement behind what you do every day.

Our agency and PR colleagues have long understood the assignment. Some even have teams dedicated to writing award entries. That confidence in the value of their work is something we in internal and employee communications can absolutely learn from especially in organisations where the impact of IC is still misunderstood or invisible.

Five tips for winning entries

So if you’ve never entered before — or if you’ve tried and not had much success — here are my tips, based on more than ten years of judging various awards, to give your work the best possible chance.

Get the basics right. What consistently stands out is how often entries struggle with the fundamentals. A campaign will not win if the entry doesn’t pay attention to details such as answering all the questions or staying within the word count. Review your entry and make sure all the required information is clearly laid out. Strong work can fall here and it’s such an easy fix.

Help judges join the dots. Don’t make judges piece together the story or rely heavily on supporting documents to explain what you’ve done. Judges simply don’t have time to watch multiple videos or work through huge packs of attachments. Depending on the award, I can have up to 30 entries to evaluate. I review each one carefully, but clarity is essential. Tell the story in the entry itself. Make it easy to understand the problem, the insight, the approach and the results without needing to look elsewhere.

Understand the difference between Strategy, Objectives and Tactics Entries that list no objectives beyond “raise awareness” will not win. Objectives set out what you want to achieve. Strategies outline the plan or approach to meet those objectives. Tactics are the specific activities you deliver. Making your objectives SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time‑Bound) not only clarifies your ambition it also sets you up to show meaningful results.

Link results back to objectives. Too many entries fail to measure how campaign outcomes met the stated objectives or present results that have nothing to do with the goals set out earlier. Present your results in a way that directly links back to your objectives and think carefully about the metrics you use. Separate them into outputs, outtakes and outcomes in line with AMEC’s Measurement and Evaluation framework. It strengthens your story and demonstrates rigour.

Use award frameworks to plan your work. If you plan with award criteria in mind from the outset, it’s a helpful framework for better work. Entering awards later becomes far simpler and your campaigns will be clearer, more focused and more measurable as a result. Awards aren’t just about the trophy; they’re about creating opportunities to showcase your work. So good luck and hope to see you on a red carpet soon.

PRmoment Awards close 23 January