How to win awards: Pay to influence the judges.
I got an email today from a company that host marketing and advertising awards, reminding me that my submission for their 2008 Marketing Awards would have to be in by January 8th.
Thanks for the reminder.
They started out by telling me how, with 12 years of experience judging awards, it was still the case that award submissions were often rejected because they were so poorly presented.
Hmm. Interesting – worth spending more care and attention on submissions, it seems.
They then recommended using a professional awards submission service to ensure any submission stood a good chance of being shortlisted.
Hmm. Maybe worth considering such services if I were looking to enter for awards.
They then recommended a specific company who they had partnered with, who would help with my submission for their awards in January and offered a discount on the service. They also mentioned that this service has “an 80% shortlist track record and a 35% win rate.” And the subject of this email? “Influence the judges and win an award“. What the Hell?
Can you see a huge conflict of interest there? Recommending a service that will prepare award submissions for awards that you are judging – and “partnering” with that service to offer the service at a special discount?
Well, I can. So the 2008 Digital Biographer ‘Most Fundamentally and Astonishingly Conflicted Marketing Awards Insider Cynical Nod and Wink Promotion of the Year‘ Award (in association with A Big Fat Brown Envelope) goes to: The Drum Marketing Awards.
Disclosure: There were no runners-up, as there were no other entrants, and there is no prize.
That email in full:
Subject:
Influence the judges and win an award
Dear Colleague,
I’ve organised and sat through hundreds of judging sessions in the 12 years I have been organising awards.
And the number of times that great work or strategies fails to get nominated due to poor presentation is astonishing.
Comments like these are common:
“There could be a great idea in here but it’s so poorly presented.”
“This has obviously been written by someone quite junior.”
“What they’ve done sounds great but there is no indication of results.”
To make sure that your potential winning submission does not get overlooked for similar reasons, you should consider using a professional awards submission service.
The Drum has partnered with Boost Marketing whose input into their clients’ awards papers has led to an 80% shortlist track record and a 35% win rate.
We are offering a special awards mentoring package for entrants to The Drum Marketing Awards at a reduced rate. The package includes:
• Review of your material and comparison to the category guidelines
• Conference call to create a submission plan (including structure for each section, elevator pitch to provide focus and a shopping list of evidence needed). This allows you to produce a first draft.
• Review of first draft including suggestions to improve clarity or impact.
• Review and feedback on final draft.You can get this extra support to help your submission for only £250 and the structure provided can of course be used for entering other award schemes too.
To find out more about how Boost can help you to win at The Drum Marketing Awards, contact chris.robinson@boost-marketing.co.uk or visit www.boost-marketing.co.uk.
The deadline for entries is Thursday 8 January 2008.
To find out more about The Drum Marketing Awards, visit www.thedrummarketingawards.co.uk or call Kim Baran or Katy Thomson on 0141 552 5858.
Best wishes
DIANE YOUNG
Managing Director
Amazing.This is a one-off, I can not find any related stories.
