The OpenWater Blog

What You Need to Know About Managing an Awards Program for the First Time

Because you’re so competent—a blessing or a curse?—your boss asked you to take charge of your association’s awards program. The good news: this will be an impressive addition to your resume. But right now, you’ve got to figure out what you’re doing and how you’ll juggle it all with other responsibilities. 

More good news: if you’re managing an awards program for the first time, you’ve come to the right place. Start where we all do, our Awards Management 101 video series. You’ll take away a plan for moving forward and a sense of what this new role involves.

We’ve gathered lessons that will prepare you for what lies ahead, including challenges you might face as a first-time awards program manager.

Pick the brains of experience

Awards Management 101 will help you get your head around the entire awards cycle. After completing the series, schedule meetings with the people who’ve overseen or worked on the awards program in the past—program managers and committee members. Ask for their advice and lessons learned.

If you don’t have an awards committee, consider starting an advisory council made up of past winners and judges. This group serves as your champions and sounding board.

Ask your professional network to connect you with colleagues who manage awards programs at their associations.

And, of course, talk with your OpenWater team. We have lots of experience and best practices to share.  

Do your research

Review all aspects of the awards program.

• Project timeline, budget, and role of volunteers
• Award types and categories
• Awards data
• Awards web pages
• Marketing campaigns and metrics
• Submission process and guidelines
• Judge recruitment and judging process and criteria
• Winner publicity and awards content repurposing
• Feedback from applicants, judges, and winners

Note potential areas for improvement based on feedback. Decide whether it’s worth rocking the boat this year or waiting until next year. Maybe only propose changes to critical areas that affect program awareness or integrity. Get the support of member champions for proposed changes.

Awards program management software will save you hours of time each week. Start becoming familiar with its functionality and reach out to your software partner if you have questions.  

Manage your time

Create a timeline by working backwards from hard deadlines, like awards announcements or the awards gala. Build in a buffer for each phase:

• Planning
• Call for entries/marketing
• Judging
• Announcement and gala
• Wrap-up

Automate wherever possible. Software like OpenWater saves you time with:

• Online submission of award entries
• Online distribution, review, and scoring of entries by judges
• Communicating with entrants and judges
• Managing and tracking project progress and deadlines

Identify when you might need help. Without technology, you’re stuck with manual processes, such as getting submissions copied and distributed to judges, ugh.

Block out dedicated time in your calendar every day or week to work on the awards program. Prioritize tasks that directly affect program success, such as:

• Attracting enough awards entries 
• Recruiting high-caliber judges 
• Ensuring program integrity 
• Securing sponsors 
• Spreading winner publicity 

Develop a marketing and social media calendar. Reuse and repurpose email communications and marketing copy. Craft and schedule these communications in advance.  

Know your budget limitations

Look at expenses and budget overruns from the last few years and compare them to this year’s budget.

For the awards gala, factor in higher venue and catering costs. Do you have the budget to outsource tasks, like gala planning, or does the event team handle it?

Set aside a 10-15% contingency fund. Look for sponsorship opportunities to help subsidize expenses.

Aim for transparency and consistency in all things

Take advantage of your fresh eyes. Review everything an award applicant reads about eligibility, and the submission and judging process. Aim for absolute clarity and transparency about how the awards program works, so applicants know they have a fair shot.

Anticipate issues

Have a confidentiality policy for judges who review award applications and a policy for handling potential conflicts of interest, for example:

• Judges with a relationship or connection to an entrant
• Current or former volunteer leaders who apply for an award
• Sponsors or other revenue partners who apply for an award

Decide how to handle late entries. Don’t play favorites or set a bad precedent by making exceptions to the rule. If you promote the awards regularly via different channels, there’s no excuse for missing the deadline.

If judges submit wildly different scoring for an entrant, look at the evaluation rubric to see what’s causing the issue. Bias? A mistaken impression? Poorly written entry?

Have back-up judges trained and ready to go in case a judge no-shows or drops out.

Decide how to notify non-winners with empathy. Have a policy about how much judging information is released to winners and non-winners.

For the awards gala, have a Plan B for key player no-shows, like the emcee, presenters, entertainers, and winners.

Take notes throughout the project

Don’t count on your memory. Jot down initial thoughts as you go through the process. This fresh perspective might be useful in the future, for example, by revealing new items for the FAQ on your website.

Keep an awards logbook with notes on the entire process:

• Decisions you made and why
• Improvements to consider
• Problems that arose and how you resolved them

After the program, while memories are still fresh, solicit feedback from award applicants, judges, and award recipients.

Manage stakeholder expectations

Regularly update your boss and committee members with a progress report and program metrics. Let them know if you need help with specific tasks and make them aware of any challenges you encounter.

Make a case for technology. Explain how awards program management software like OpenWater:

• Significantly cuts down on staff time
• Automates repetitive tasks
• Facilitates communication with entrants and judges
• Helps prevent errors
• Ensures consistency and fairness in awards processes

Instead of spending time on laborious manual tasks, software allows you to focus on more important program responsibilities.

Make a plan to take care of yourself

With any new project, expect a learning curve. Along with the entrants and volunteers, awards programs bring their own unique set of expectations, emotions, and deadlines. Anticipate and make a plan for managing the inevitable stress. You can’t stay in putting-out-fires mode. Schedule quiet time to reflect and recharge.

Don’t become overwhelmed by what lies ahead. It’s all doable, especially with plenty of helpful resources. If you start with our OpenWater video series, Awards Management 101, your awards program could be the best your association ever organized.

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.

Tips for Creating a Transparent & Fair Association Awards Program