How to Decide Whether to Apply for an Industry Award: Joyce Bosc

Industry awards enhance the awareness and reputation of government contractors. Being named a winner — or even a finalist — can boost your brand value with current and prospective customers, partners, and employees.

There are plenty of regional and national awards to choose from. How, then, do you decide which ones to pursue?

The key to a strategic award program is to consider each industry award opportunity as if it were a potential government contract. Just as Lohfeld Consulting recommends when making bid/no-bid calls, building an award decision scorecard can guide you. Pursue only the ones you have the best chance of winning and give you the most visibility.

Here are eight questions to answer for smart go/no-go industry award decisions.

1. What are our strategic business objectives?

Are you focused on business development and growth? Product or service innovation? Recruitment and retention? Whatever your goals or objectives, there are awards for that!

Here are just a few categories:

• Company culture
• Corporate social responsibility
• Cybersecurity
• Diversity and inclusion
• Employee engagement
• Executive leadership
• Fastest-growing companies
• Innovation
• Largest companies (by revenue)
• Mentor-protégé
• Military-friendly
• Philanthropy
• Revenue growth
• Service-Disabled-Veteran-Owned-Small-Business companies
• Women in technology
• Women-owned companies

2. What achievements do we have for nominations?

A winning nomination is backed by facts and success. Have you gained triple-digit revenue growth over the past three years? Did you introduce a new product in the past year? Do you have product or service pilots with successful proof points? What tangible customer milestones can you share?

Look for facts, figures, and quotes that will support a timely, compelling nomination.

3. What awards are our competitors winning?

Look at the awards your key competitors have won. You may discover new award opportunities that fit your goals. It can also help your team to be aware of the recognition competitors are earning. Remember, your prospective customers and employees are checking their awards too.

4. Who is sponsoring the award?

Media companies and industry associations are frequent award sponsors. Your company’s brand is tied to that of the award organizers, so pursue only awards from brands you respect. Unfortunately, some awards are known by industry insiders as pure “pay for play.”

For government contractors in the greater Washington, D.C. area, media companies such as Bloomberg Government, Washington Technology, Washington Business Journal, FedScoop, and the latest newcomer, OrangeSlices AI, have relevant industry awards.

So, too, do numerous local and regional organizations and associations, including the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Northern Virginia Technology Council, AFCEA, ACT-IAC, ATARC, SECAF, and many more.

If you’re considering an association-sponsored award, find out if your company is a member and how “known” it is with the group. Even if membership is not required of award applicants, some associations prefer to recognize members. It helps to know in advance.

5. What level of effort is required?

At Boscobel, we keep a close eye on the award opportunities relevant to our GovCon clients and we rate nominations by level of effort.

Growth awards are often low effort, only requiring certified financials for the past three years.

Nominations with only two or three short, open-ended questions are medium effort.

Medium-high effort awards require an employee survey.

Award nominations that ask for more and longer open-ended questions, customer references, answers to pages of questions, or winner engagement commitments for the next year are all considered high effort.

There are many high-effort award opportunities that come with valuable prestige, but it’s important to weigh the level of effort when making your decisions.

6. What is the timing?

Every year, new awards emerge and others drop off the list. Keep a close eye on the nomination and announcement dates of active, relevant awards. Also keep track of last year’s dates for deadlines that have already passed. Spring and fall are the biggest award seasons.

Before committing to an award nomination, be sure the timing doesn’t conflict with a more pressing business priority. Also, if two awards both require an employee satisfaction survey or customer references, ensure the deadlines are far apart so you don’t create award fatigue with your champions. If they do conflict, select just one.

7. Who won last year?

Looking at last year’s winners will tell you a lot about the relevance of the award and your chances of winning. If you’re a small company and only large companies won a year ago, the award is not a fit. If you’re a technology company and winners were primarily from finance, construction, or real estate, it’s probably not a good fit. If your company is not active in the association and previous winners are frequent sponsors, speakers, authors, and association leaders, it’s likely not a fit.

Look for awards with previous winners that are like you.

8. What is the total cost?

Many awards are free to apply. Others charge a fee, usually ranging from $250 to $850. There may be other costs, too. Some sponsors require a commitment from winning organizations to host meetings or deliver educational sessions to the group. Others require that you share a set of named partners or customers — with their contact information — as part of your award submission. So weigh all potential costs.

Create a Scorecard to Guide Decisions

To create your scorecard, rate your answers to each of the above questions with a color. Red, yellow, green. If you have too many reds, it’s a “no-go” to submit. If you have six greens out of eight, the award may earn a “go” decision. If so, dedicate the time and resources to submit a thoughtful, engaging nomination.

The right investment in the right opportunities will create a winning award program for your company that will increase your brand value and differentiate you from competitors for recruitment and business development.