And the award for best award entry writer goes to…

There’s an award for everything these days – no matter where your area of expertise lies, you can probably find a competition to enter and a category which describes your best qualities to a tee. As a PR team, all of us are well versed in the art of compiling an awards list. We’ve spent so many hours scouring the internet for appropriate awards for various clients that we should probably enter ourselves into an award for it…

But in all seriousness, there are very specific criteria that we’re looking for when we decide whether a specific scheme makes the list and gets presented as a possibility for any of Zen’s clients. Aside from making sure the client can tick all the entry requirements, and has a fighting chance of being shortlisted, we’re looking to see how beneficial it’d actually be for them to win.

In other words:

• Can they leverage the win in order to raise awareness of (or even funding for) their business, product, service or cause?
• Will adding the winner’s logo to their website and social media add to their credibility as a brand?
• Does it add to the authority with which they can present their ideas and expertise to the public, the media, and their stakeholders?

One of the clients we’ve experienced fantastic success with when it comes to awards submissions is PEGS, a social enterprise which focuses on raising awareness around – and reducing the impact of – Child to Parent Abuse.

While it’s of course a joy to witness PEGS founder Michelle John collecting accolades like nobody’s business – her award-winning has evidenced the point around the many benefits which can come from being the ‘best at’ your niche.

Being named as a Star of the Future in the WISE100 this year (Women in Social Enterprise) opened the door for Michelle to speak at a webinar hosted by WISE100 organisers Pioneers Post, leading to personal and direct connections with other social enterprise campaigners from across the UK.

Highlighting her achievements – of which awards are a core facet – has helped us secure coverage on national news programmes, features within the pages of broadsheets and industry journals, and appearances on numerous podcasts and radio shows.

Whether it’s Channel 5, ITV News, the Daily Telegraph, or the Mail+ app, media opportunities have been undoubtedly increased thanks what is a relatively young organisation having multiple award wins under its belt already.

And with the news coming in from Las Vegas over the weekend that Michelle was the world’s only gold winner in the Woman of the Year – Government or Non Profit category at the 2022 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, we know we’ll be able to use this to ensure she can raise even more awareness, partner with more organisations, and ultimately help more parents who are struggling with abuse from their children.

She says: “The Zen team has been able to highlight core opportunities and create compelling entries for numerous awards schemes on behalf of myself as an individual and PEGS as an organisation.

Being able to list some of these awards when I’m talking to local authorities, police forces, Government departments and other key players has ensured those people are aware of PEGS’ achievements and the fact that we’re at the forefront of the campaign around Child to Parent Abuse.

“We mention our award wins when submitting funding applications, and they have also been a crucial element of us securing plenty of media opportunities. There’s also the key benefit that every time we win an award, information about PEGS is shared on the scheme’s website, social media, and at ceremonies: a fantastic way for us to raise awareness among professionals who may be working with families experiencing CPA, and among parents who may not have been aware there was support out there for them.”

That point from Michelle highlights why we prioritise which awards we’ll enter for clients – frontline professionals are one of the PEGS’ key audiences because they offer training to organisations who work alongside families impacted by CPA. So, when we make a list of relevant awards it’ll only include ones which matter to these organisations, plus PEGS’ other core demographics. And the same goes for any client.

Because while you might be proud of your Best in Show accolade for growing the county’s biggest marrow (and rightly so), it’s unlikely to boost your brand’s reputation much…unless you’re running a fruit and veg business of course :)