My love-hate relationship with Awards.

White Label

cupcake

I should start by saying that those people who know me will agree that I enjoy a good night out as much as the next person, and awards ceremonies are generally, in my experience, a great night out. And of course, being involved in work which is nominated for awards is always very flattering.

I’ve written awards entries. I’ve judged award entries. Work I’ve been involved in has been shortlisted and I’ve felt the elation of being a winner on stage. I’ve also felt the disappointment of not winning but applauding the competition anyway and cheering up anyone else involved that feels deflated. I’ve even been involved in designing a brand-new award category that is still going strong after many years.

A couple of weeks ago due to our role as The FIRM’s (The Forum for In-house Recruitment Manager’s) social media agency, I was able to have behind the scenes involvement in preparing for the annual FIRM Awards ceremony. We were there to support all the content throughout the build-up and on the night. It was fantastic to see all the effort that goes into making an awards evening run smoothly. We also ran a competition during the event to which led to there being over 345,000 views of social posts tagging #FIRMAwards19.

When I sat down to write this blog, the focus was going to be about my love-hate relationship with awards in my sector mainly due to the fact that unless you’re an organiser, a judge, or a category winner, it’s very hard to feel fully invested in the event. Even as a nominee, if you don’t win on the night, it can quickly turn out to be a little less fun if there’s a sense of disappointment amongst the people you’re sitting with. What actually is the purpose of awards? Why do people want to win them but importantly, why can’t I find out more about the detail of why the winners won? The FIRM are busy putting together a case study brochure providing lots of detail about all the winners which is a brilliant idea but there aren’t that many events that I’m aware of that do that.

But as I had finished my first (tenth) draft, I received a text. It was from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a client of mine at a previous agency. They wanted me to be one of the first to know that they had finally achieved recognition for something that we had always had a shared vision to achieve. They were even kind enough to mention my work with them at the start of their journey. I am so happy for them and it made me rethink the focus of this piece.

Awards are so much more than that one event or ceremony. They’re more than the trophy for the cabinet, the certificate for the wall or the logo for your website. They’re recognition of hard work and great results. They bring teams and clients together to celebrate success.

I just wish two things: that those nominated entries that aren’t winners can remember to be just as proud of themselves for making it onto the short-lists as it’s no easy task; and that there is more information made available about the detail behind the winning entries.

Other than that, I think I’m back in love with the idea of awards again!

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