In the first of his 'Chair's view' posts, Headlinemoney Awards Chair of Judges, David Worsfold, gives some tips on constructing a successful awards entry:

The first bit of advice I usually offer to people asking for help with writing award entries is: tell your story. This means give it a sense of narrative and do not just slam down a list of unrelated bullet points.

Most journalists entering these awards instinctively tell their story, so clearly something more is needed if you are to create a stand-out entry.

Let’s start by reminding ourselves of some of the basics.

Read the criteria and write an entry that specifically addresses them. If you are entering more than one category, do not get lazy and cut and paste from one entry to another. The chances are if they are in similar areas some of the same judges might be reviewing them. As a judge, there are few things more disheartening than realising you have seen most – sometimes all – of an entry before because it tells you the person couldn’t really be bothered. You feel they have wasted your time.

Pick good examples – three of them. I know as an entrant myself in previous years how difficult it can be to select the right examples. Sometimes you know you have got two excellent examples but struggle to select the third. The challenge is not to make it obvious that one could be an also-ran. Do not always put it third or use language that suggests ‘I also happen to have written this’. Make it part of that all-important overall narrative.

One issue that became more obvious to me last year as I facilitated many online judging sessions was the need to remind judges of who your audience is. Sometimes we would look at an entry and perhaps feel that the journalist was covering familiar or unoriginal topics. That is how it might seem from our well-informed perspective but it can be far from the case when you look at the audience it was created for.

This applies to the PR categories as well. Some of the best entries can be about communicating a familiar subject to a new audience, possibly through new channels and media. Some entries fall into the trap of telling us in great detail about the message but fail to create any clarity about who it was aimed at.

And did it make a difference? This can be a tricky one as it is often hard to evidence but where there is evidence you must share it. Just throwing in a phrase such as ‘one of our top ten most read stories’ means little without the numbers to back it up and give it meaningful context.

Lastly, and so obvious it really shouldn’t need saying – but it does – try to submit attachments as your examples of work rather than links, but if you must have links, please make sure they work and are easy for the judges to access.

… And don’t forget to proof read it.

David Worsfold, Headlinemoney Chair of Judges