The OpenWater Blog

9 New Ideas for Award Winner Recognition

It feels good to make someone else feel good. When you shine the spotlight on your association’s award winners, you spread that good feeling all around. Experiment with one of these new ways to bring your award winners the recognition their contributions and accomplishments deserve.

Award winner recognition shines the spotlight on your association too. The publicity introduces your awards program to people beyond your usual audience. It also gives award winners the opportunity to share their stories and lessons learned with others.

#1: Prizes for award winners

Beyond the obligatory trophy or plaque, reward winners of the most prestigious awards with:

• Free registration to an upcoming conference or program of their choice
• Sponsored travel stipend for an upcoming conference
• Free online learning subscription for one year
• Gift card (or promo credits) for association products, services, and programs

#2: Honoring award winners at events

Most associations already invite finalists or winners to an awards breakfast, lunch, reception, or dinner. These events include a walk across the stage, recorded videos, interviews, or speeches.

Include information about award winners in your conference or membership app. Or consider a retro idea: placing printed program books on seats. Anything made of paper is now a special touch, plus another opportunity for sponsor advertising and congratulatory paid messages from award winners’ employers.

Host an exclusive reception at your annual conference for past and current award winners—and offer more valuable sponsorship opportunities.

Install a “wall of fame” near the exhibit hall entrance, registration, or other high-traffic area. Host a meet-and-greet event in this space. Conduct live interviews there to use later in podcast episodes, video series, and promotions.

#3: Awards program website

Dedicate a section of your website to the awards program. Include a list of the most recent winners with photos, plus a brief description of the winning project or accomplishment. Display a digital showcase featuring visual elements of their award-winning projects.

Link to pages about past years’ winners and information about upcoming awards, for example:

• Award descriptions
• Application process
• Sponsorship and volunteer judging opportunities
• Selection/judging process

#4: Press releases for award winner publicity

Press releases are meant to attract the attention of media and industry influencers and gain additional publicity for your award winners and program. The better story you tell, the more likely others will share it.

The press release must make the reader care about the award winner’s story. Describe the impact of their contribution or accomplishment on the industry, profession, or public. You may need to change your application and scoring form to elicit this information.

Send releases to:

• Journalists from online and print media who cover your industry
• Business journals and publications in the winner’s market
• Winner’s employer for their company website or newsletter
• Industry influencers for their social media and newsletter
• Winner’s alumni publications
• Winner’s Chamber of Commerce and local business groups
• Other industry forums and communities
• Press release services, such as PR Newswire and Business Wire

If you have time, customize each press release to match the audience of each outlet. Focus on what the recipient’s readers would find interesting.

#5: Award winner toolkit

Encourage winners to show off their accomplishment. Provide toolkits with:

• Sample messaging for resumes, emails, and social media, with hashtag suggestions
• Press release templates with usage suggestions
• Digital badge, with the year and name of the award, to use on LinkedIn, websites, and email signatures
• Graphics to use on social media and websites

Provide tips on media interviews and leveraging their award for marketing.

#6: Association awards week

Bring attention to your awards program and winners after the excitement fades away. Get the buzz going again with an awards week.

Feature winner stories in:

• Webinar, podcast, or video series
• Social media
• Blog posts and newsletter stories
• Home page feature

Include a mention of your upcoming awards with a link to your website’s awards section.

#7: Highlighting award winners at educational events

Award winners make the biggest impact by sharing their stories via webinars, conference sessions, and online education events. In these programs, members and attendees get a chance to learn from their peers, and you get to expand awareness and interest in your awards program.

• Invite winners to submit a session proposal for an upcoming event.
• Suggest ideas to winners for panels, roundtables, podcast or YouTube episodes, webinars, and other online or in-person programs.
• Ask sponsors to get involved in program design and/or delivery.

Design programs in which an individual winner or group of winners discuss common challenges, emerging trends, new practices, innovative solutions, and new opportunities. Feature these case studies in online courses and other educational programs.

#8: Sharing award winner stories

Interview award winners for profile articles, blog posts, and newsletter features. Share the highlights on social media with links to more information.

Record a series of short video or podcast interviews in which they share their award-winning accomplishments, professional journey, and lessons learned.

#9: Awards program promotions

Every one of these recognition ideas helps to keep your awards program in front of members. However, in the weeks leading up to the awards submissions period, place a rotating selection of “house” ads in your newsletters. In each ad, feature a previous award winner with a sentence about the award’s impact on their life. Place these ads on your preferred social media platforms too.

These winner recognition ideas won’t blow your budget if you invite the collaboration of industry partners. They can help spread awareness of your awards program while sharing the costs.

Find even more ideas for running and promoting your awards program in OpenWater’s Ultimate Guide to Awards Management. It’s the Award Management 101 class you never knew you needed.

Debbie Willis

Debbie Willis is the VP of Global Marketing at ASI, with over 20 years marketing experience in the association and non-profit technology space. Passionate about all things MarTech, Debbie has led countless website, SEO, content, email, paid ad and social media marketing strategies and campaigns. Debbie loves creating meaningful content to engage and empower association and non-profit audiences. Debbie received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Information Systems from James Madison University and a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing from The George Washington University. Debbie is a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, American Society of Association Executives and dabbles in photography.

OpenWater Q1 2025 Product Update: New Features and What’s Coming Next

11 Ideas for Awards Program Sponsorships