Gold Quill Awards: Judging
The Art and Craft of a Gold Quill Awards Entry
by Sujit M. Patil, Tata Chemicals Limited, India
Having the privilege of serving on the Blue Ribbon Panel for IABC’s Gold Quill Awards program in March of 2009 was definitely one of the key milestones on my professional journey. More so, being the only one from India made me feel on top of the world!
Before I share some of the tips (or insider insights) on what goes on during the judging and what’s on the judge’s mind during this hunt for winners, let me confess that for me, these few days of judging at IABC headquarters in San Francisco were inspiring and enriching. I had the opportunity to judge some preeminent communication programs from around the world. Also, the experience of working as a team with senior professional communicators from across the world and understanding their thought process was paramount. Not to mention the IABC staff, I have yet to figure out where they get their great energy and passion for excellence in setting up uniform and fair guidelines and processes for scoring. They also make sure that we as judges concentrate on nothing but picking the winners!
If you ask me what makes the winners stand out and what earns them Gold Quill Awards, is the perfect blend and strong connection of the need, alignment, outcome and effectiveness in their work plans. Let me explain it by section.
- Need/Opportunity – You know the need and your passion for the project is high, but does this excitement translate to the judges? Remember these are global awards; the judges may come from a variety of continents, cultures and unique business environments. Put yourself in their shoes. Is your compelling opportunity easy to comprehend; does it, most importantly, have robust measures for evaluating its success?
- Intended Audience – Segmentation is not just marketing speak. For example in an internal communication program, how well the audience has been segmented based on the demographics and psychographics is important in deciding what needs to be communicated and through which mode. The judges try and spot how much thought was put into the entry including what kind of research was done to identify the target audience, what was the rationale behind your decisions, how the connect was established among the various stakeholders and the coverage. Again, cultural nuances, mindset issues and an alignment with the overall purpose of the communication need to be spelled out lucidly. A research focus gets you bonus points.
- Goals and Objectives – This is where a bit of confusion arises. A clear cut connection and alignment between the need, goals and objectives has to be demonstrated in the work plan. The goal is the big overall picture and the objectives are focused targets with measures that congregate to achieve the fulfillment of the goal. A key confusion between efficiency (e.g. number of newsletters, frequency, timeliness, etc.) and efficacy (change in behavior, outcomes, etc.) needs to be sorted out before you set the goals and objectives. The judges can actually decide the fate of an entry just by looking at the goals and objectives and comparing them with the measurement and outcomes!
- Solutions Overview – “Larger the budget, higher the chances” does not work here! While budgets and their effective use are important, the judges look for how the budget contributes to the overall success of the campaign. A judicial use of budgets well linked with the overall goal is critical. The entire solution needs to be spelled out in a way that the judges can easily understand and visualize it. The trick is simple—be precise and logical with your solutions and show the audience how the solution connects to the other steps.
- Implementation and Challenges – Everything can’t be smooth sailing! Challenges both anticipated and not need to be communicated well throughout your work plan. Explain the challenges you faced and show how you overcame them so that the impacts were minimized. Your implementation process should also be lucidly explained and have a logical flow. The critical part here is the thoughtfulness you apply rather than the scale or pitch. A strong connection again with the audience and fulfillment of the overall goal gets you the bonus.
- Measurement and Evaluation – If I am the judge, this section is the first indicator of a veiled winner! The most important aspect of the whole work plan, this section gives you the edge over the work done by run-of–the-mill communicators! In this section, you need to have a direct linkage with all of your previous sections, but most importantly, the goals and objectives. Spell out all the research, outcomes, benchmarks and quantifiable measures you can think of and prove. The trick is not to go overboard, be relevant and choose those that have a predominant connection and alignment leading to the success of your communication program.
A few top-of-mind thoughts and questions you need to address when creating your entry:
- The judges are urged to look at entries positively with an aim of picking winners. Does your entry excite them as much as it did you when you crafted it?
- Is the entry lucid and to the point as per the criteria? The judges look at key indicators to make an initial judgment.
- Is your entry backed by substantial audience research, benchmarks and relevant measures?
- Does the entry look like a strategic piece of work or just a tactical rollout of events?
- Have you benchmarked your work with past winning entries? View examples on the IABC web site.
- Have you reviewed and proofread the entry? Does your entry follow the guidelines?
As a Blue Ribbon Panel member, one thing that really struck me was the depth and breath of topics and communication initiatives that are carried out across the world. It was really exhilarating to see communicators from diverse background—cultural, linguistic, from developed and developing nations—trying to ‘Be Heard’ under a unique global umbrella of IABC.
The experience of crafting a Gold Quill Award entry is unique in itself. It helps you document your complete communication program in a way so that it can be replicated by anyone who reads it. Go for it with passion. May you become a proud owner of a Gold Quill Award.
Start preparing your Gold Quill Award entry today! The early-bird deadline is 27 January 2010, and the final deadline is 3 February 2010.
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