The super easy tip that will set your business award entries up for success

Entering a business award takes an investment of time. But more than that, a great business award entry requires great award entry writing skills. But if content writing is not in your skill set, it’s hard to know if, once you’ve written your award entry, it’s good enough to pass muster. Entering an award or being nominated for one is exciting. But it comes with some stress. The Award Writers team at Award Writers know how daunting it is for businesses to write interesting entries to the standard that will make the judges sit up and take notice. Knowing how to write the entry and what to say isn’t as easy as it might seem. There’s one great tip we can share, though, that will make your business award entries more compelling next time you’re writing a business award submission.

So, what’s the basic idea?

The idea is very simple. And it’s not just award entries that you can apply it to. Whatever it is that you’re writing – be it a business award entry, a blog for your website, an article for LinkedIn or a proposal to a new client, or other B2B content for your business – you simply: WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY. THEN, TAKE THE LAST LINE. PUT IT AT THE START. REWRITE IT. This is something that all good copy editors and copywriters do. Very simply, once you’ve drafted your responses to each question in the award entry, move the last sentence in each paragraph up to become the first one in that paragraph. Then rewrite or edit the paragraph so that it makes sense. It might sound a bit odd. But the fact is that every time you do this, the flow of the content in your award entry improves. The judges will understand your key points more quickly and find it more interesting to read your award entry. This isn’t a new idea. It’s what’s known as the ‘Top Down Thinking Process’, which is based on The Pyramid Principle written by Barbara Minto way back in 1978. It works because, when you’re not an expert award writer, it’s easy to get bogged down in what you’re trying to say and you end up making your most important point last. But by then, you might have lost your reader – the award judges, in this case. So, by putting that major statement at the beginning of each paragraph, we make the awards judge sit up, pay attention and carry on following our message. How great is that?

Here’s that super easy way to become a better business award writer again:

• Write what you want to say in the same order as you think of it.
• Take the last line you wrote, cut and paste it to the start of the paragraph or piece of copy.
• Rewrite the paragraph so that it makes sense and flows.
• Anything that doesn’t fit that paragraph – cut it out.

Why does it work?

According to Kelvin Prescott, who wrote about this on LinkedIn, it’s all about the difference between the way we remember things and the way that we learn. But for your purposes, when you’re trying to grab the attention of the award judges, make sure that what you want them to understand– that all important fact that’s going to make a difference to your award entry making a big impreession – is right up there at the beginning. Sceptical? Then try it out for yourself. What have you got to lose? You’ve got everything to gain by using this simple trick when your writing your business award entries. Our business award writers use it all the time when they’re writing success business award entries for our clients. Try it and you’ll find that the content in your award submissions is sharper and the message you’re trying to get across to the award judges comes across immediately, loud and clear. And that’s what you need to do to be in the running as an award winner.

Or get help from professional award writers

The Award Writers team writes around 100 successful award submissions every year for clients from engineering, healthcare, law, construction, media and marketing, real estate, IT and professional services – almost every industry you can think of. Some are SMEs; others are national and global companies. But all have an inspiring story to share. Isn’t it time you shared your story as well? Contact us today to discuss your award entry with our professional writing team. Or ring the Award Writers team on 02 8036 5532 or 0448 566 377.