Gold Quill Awards: Judging
You May Already Have Lost: How to win a Gold Quill Award
By Ann Wylie, Wylie Communications Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, USA
There's nothing like earning a Gold Quill Award to demonstrate that you are an expert in your field. (I've noticed that there seems to be an inverse correlation between the number of Gold Quill Awards lining your bookshelves and the amount of grief you take in the approval process.)
Yet too many communicators who have produced stellar projects, written the check for the awards entry fee and invested the not insignificant amount of time it takes to enter the competition come up short.
The reason is almost always the same: the work plan.
The key is to think of the work plan as a case study. Build a case, section by section, that shows how you identified a problem, came up with the best possible solution, then measured your results to demonstrate your success.
The good news is that this is also the key to planning and managing successful communication programs in the first place. Here's how to do it.
1. Need/opportunity
Judges answer the following question: How clearly is the need and its effect on the organization identified?
Here's where you build a business case for your project. Explain the problem you're solving, the need you're filling, or the opportunity you're pursuing and how it will affect your organization's performance.
Have you done any research to bolster your case? Summarize your findings here, and include the evidence in your appendix. Vague assumptions like, "The environment is becoming a big issue in corporate America," don't do the trick. Neither do communication issues like, "We thought it was time to update our newsletter's look."
Got numbers? Use 'em. Judges are wonky; we eat stats for breakfast. Feed us!
Don't serve up your whole boilerplate, but make sure the judges can tell what your company does and other basics.
2. Audience
Judges answer the question: How clearly are the critical characteristics of the audience identified?
Don't just define the audience in this section. This is your chance to show how the audience's demographics and psychographics drove your decisions about the solution.
One of my friends, for example, needed to communicate to long-haul truckers. For people who need to keep their eyes on the road at work, a web site or newsletter just doesn't make sense. Instead, he put together a series of "radio shows" and distributed them via cassette tape (now you could use CDs or MP3 downloads). That was a Gold Quill Award-winning solution, in part, because it was so well aligned to audience needs.
Did you do any pre-project benchmarking to find out audience attitudes about your topic? If so, summarize your findings here, and document your evidence in the appendix.
Got numbers? Use 'em. Judges love numbers. Yummmmmm…
3. Goals and objectives
Judges answer these questions:
- How well do the goals and objectives address the stated need?
- To what extent are the objectives measurable in addressing the stated need?
Here's a secret from the Blue Ribbon Panel: Judges look at the goals and objectives and measurement first. If those aren't Gold Quill worthy, there's almost no chance you'll win.
To make your work plan a contender:
- Align your objectives and measurements. One common problem in work plans is that objectives don't link to results. In the measurement section, judges have to score you on how thoroughly your results are measured against objectives. If they don't align, your score goes down.
- Number your objectives. Judges aren't stupid, but they may be bleary-eyed from studying work plans for six hours or so before they see yours. Make it easy for them to see the link by listing, numbering, and labeling your objectives and measurements. If you list three objectives, you should list three measurements. Use the same labels for your objectives and measurements. You get the drill.
- Focus on business, not communication. "Launch a benefits blog" is not your objective. The blog is the means to an end, not the end itself. So ask, "What do you want people to do differently because you launched the blog?" Maybe you want employees to choose their benefits package by the due date instead of just go for the default package.
- Focus on action, not attitude. "To communicate that the company is a good place to work" focuses on attitude. You want to focus on action. Again, ask, "What do you want people to do differently because they believe that the company is a good place to work?" Stay on the job longer? Then "decrease employee turnover" may be your objective.
- Quantify your goals. You're going to have to measure whether you accomplished these objectives, so add a number: "to decrease employee turnover by 17 percent," for instance.
Here's a textbook objective, from John Francis' work plan for Saint Luke’s Health magazine:
Increase the number of calls to NurseLine, our physician referral and community information telephone line, by at least 200 in the two weeks following the drop of each issue.
Sad but true: Poor objectives will lower the score in other parts of the plan.
4. Solution overview
Judges answer these questions:
- How effective is the overall solution in employing messages, tactics and media?
- To what extent does the overall solution demonstrate a strategic or creative approach to business communication?
One mistake entrants make here is to describe every grunt and groan of the project. Save your real estate. Judges are going to look at your work sample, so you don't need to breathlessly describe the shade of cerulean you chose for your coverlines. (Besides, as far as I know, no Gold Quill Awards have been won or lost based on the color of the coverlines.)
Instead, describe your key messages, media, tools and tactics. Judges are looking for an effective, innovative solution to meeting your objectives, given your audience and business needs.
5. Implementation
Judges answer the question: How effectively is the project implemented in terms of budget, time and other resources?
This section is your chance to show how you overcame obstacles along the way. I'm a sucker for a good approval process story. And if you produced Belgian chocolate on a lollipop budget or wrote a complex annual report in 10 days, be sure to point out those successes as well.
Judges are looking for an efficient use of budget here, so show us the money. If you leave off the budget, we have to give you a below-average score.
6. Measurement
Judges answer this question: How thoroughly are results measured against objectives?
Sorry, but there's no substitute for measuring the success of your communications. Collecting quotes from happy audience members, clients and executives does not equal measurement.
Measurement means counting something—an increase in calls to your doctor referral line, for instance, or the percentage change in employees who could correctly answer a question about the new policy you're communicating.
- Align your measurements to objectives. Label them. Number them. Help judges see the link (see objectives). If your objectives were weak, your score will be lower in this section, too.
- Skip the Sally Fields measurement: "They like us; they really like us!" Instead of measuring readership, likership and so forth, measure what your audience members did differently because they read and liked your communication.
- Show bottom-line business results. An Enterprise Rent-A-Car web site, for example, reduced the cost of hiring new employees by a factor of eight, from US$1,250 to US$150 per hire.
That's a Gold Quill Award-winning result.
Go for the Gold
Gold Quill Awards can help you position yourself as the recognized expert, which gives you more power in your organization and more leverage in the approval process. They can help you earn more money, keep your job or get a better one—or woo more clients if you own a business.
It takes a lot of time to put together a winning work plan. But the results can certainly be worth the effort.
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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