Tips for Creating a Transparent & Fair Association Awards Program
Your association’s awards program will attract more participants if members and industry professionals believe it’s fair and unbiased. When members trust your submission and judging processes, they’re more likely to apply for an award, nominate peers, or encourage others to apply.
You don’t want anyone to think your awards program is an insider’s game. Invite volunteers—members who aren’t familiar with the program—to help you evaluate the program’s transparency and fairness. Their fresh eyes are the perspective you need.
Review all aspects of the program with them: the program structure, application/nomination process, judge selection, and judging criteria.
Awards program structure
Start with the purpose of each category and award. Is it understandable to outsiders? Is it based on objective standards? Review each award description on your website to ensure its purpose is clear.
Improve your program’s inclusivity with awards that honor a range of achievements, innovations, or contributions to the profession or industry. Offer every membership segment the opportunity for recognition, especially those who are underrepresented in your association or industry.
Dedicate a few membership awards to new volunteers, so the same members (or volunteer positions) aren’t receiving awards year after year.
When posting awards information on your website, err on the side of information overkill. Don’t leave any questions or doubts in someone’s mind. Provide an email address for a staff member who can quickly answer questions from prospective applicants and judges.
Awards application or nomination process
Use a variety of marketing channels to ensure everyone sees the call for submissions. Send targeted emails that highlight the benefits for different member segments of participating in the awards program. Young professionals will respond to different messaging than industry veterans.
If your association wants to recruit and retain more young members, consider rewarding award winners in “rising star” categories with free membership for a year.
Rules and guidelines for the application/nomination process must be clear and easy to find on your website. Include objective and understandable submission and judging criteria for each award category.
Track the number of applications/nominations from different member segments. Identify and encourage underrepresented groups to get involved. Awards management software streamlines the submission process for applicants and makes it much easier for you to track their applications.
Host office hours or “behind-the-curtain” webinars to encourage members to apply for awards, nominate someone, or become a judge. Answer questions about the program, application process, judge recruitment, and judging criteria. Ask previous winners and judges to share tips for successful submissions—either live or via a video recording.
Judge selection
Develop the criteria for becoming a judge for different award categories. Post judging requirements and responsibilities (including time commitment) on the awards and volunteering pages of your website. Consider inviting non-member experts who have influence and name recognition in the industry.
Use all your marketing channels to invite members to apply for a judging spot. As with award applications, track judging applications so you can identify and encourage underrepresented groups to get involved. Go beyond the usual suspects in your recruitment efforts. Ask for referrals and send personal invitations. Aim for diverse perspectives and expertise on your judging panels.
Provide training for judges so they understand the judging process and criteria. Teach them how to use your awards management software to facilitate the judging process and communicate with staff and their fellow judges.
In live or recorded training sessions, discuss natural biases. Share tactics for making unbiased decisions. For example, ask them to focus on the applicant’s objective accomplishments, not just their reputation, industry seniority, or membership tenure. Go over guidelines for identifying and handling conflicts of interest.
Judging process
To ensure fair competition, the selection process must rely on unambiguous and objective judging criteria. Blind judging is the fairest approach. Hiding the identities of applicants and nominees minimizes the risk of bias or favoritism. Arrange for multiple judges to score each application. Use a simple scoring method that allows decisions to be consistent and objective.
Ask judges to provide comments on their scores. Comments are helpful for resolving wide variances in scoring. They also could reveal unintentional biases. Judges’ comments also come in handy when writing copy for press releases and other communications.
Decide whether you’ll share comments with winners and losers. If you do, will you require judges to make comments on all entries?
After the judging process is complete, ask judges for feedback on improving the process for next year.
Awards gala
Ask corporate partners to pledge sponsorship or scholarship funds for members who can’t afford travel expenses or gala tickets. Make sure the selection process is fair and transparent.
Post-even debriefing
Send a short survey to gather feedback from award applicants, award recipients, and judges.
As with any big project, gather staff, a few awards committee members, and a few judges to meet for a program retrospective. Share the meeting agenda with these members and ask them to consult with their fellow volunteers before the meeting. Agenda topics include:
- What went well?
- What areas need improvement?
- Where specifically could the program be more fair or transparent?
- What have you heard from members, award applicants, award recipients, or fellow judges?
Review awards categories, marketing campaigns, application and nomination processes, judge recruitment and training, judging process, awards announcement, and awards gala. Discuss any changes in your industry or association that might require changes to awards or the program.
If you could use a refresher on awards management, check out OpenWater’s Awards 101 Manual—everything you need to ensure all aspects of your awards program are fair, unbiased, and transparent.
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