Recent awards successes for Publitek’s clients help to explain why electronics companies looking to raise market visibility seek our support. Here we share some tips on how to develop a winning electronics industry award entry.
Complementing the technical content marketing activities undertaken by the team at Publitek is the creation of winning industry awards entries. All years are busy, but this has been particularly frenetic, with virtually all our clients keen to gain industry recognition for their latest electronics and engineering innovations.
While a few of our clients are sometimes reluctant or less concerned with receiving praise from industry peers, we often convince them to participate in relevant Tier 1 award schemes. The reasons for entering are fairly straightforward: winning sets a product, project or business apart from its competitors; firms can add ‘award winning’ to marketing materials; the company’s existing or new customers gain greater confidence that products and service are excellent; and industry recognition can demonstrate to staff and investors that the business is innovative and forward-thinking.
At the 2017 British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs) held in London last week, Publitek client Plessey scooped the coveted Grand Prix award. Besides being awarded the ‘best overall’ winner, Plessey was also awarded the Materials Application of the Year for its innovative use of gallium nitride on silicon LED technology. The choice of material can make or break an engineering design, and enable products to deliver both superior performance and a lower cost solution.
Organised by the team behind New Electronics magazine, the BEEAs – which recognise companies that have demonstrated the most significant innovations in engineering and electronics design within the past year – also proved successful for Peratech (another Publitek client), which won New Electronic Product of the Year.
So can we offer some free advice to you to help create a winning award submission? Yes, of course. Here are five tips:
- Be clear and specific
Keep the entry simple. Ensure the information is explained concisely. Don’t baffle the judges with too much background and extras. Give specific examples – facts, not fluff – and avoid jargon. Judges have many entries to review, so keep your entry succinct and within the word limit.
- Structure your entry
Your submission should follow a clear format. In a logical timeline, state the challenges, your solution and the results in a concise way. Don’t forget you are telling a story which needs to hold the judges’ attention.
- Address the question and provide evidence
To give your entry the best possible chance, ensure you check the criteria for the category. Provide the judges with information that has been requested, not just what you want to describe to them, and provide solid evidence against the criteria. Any supporting documents should be relevant, and not included just for the sake of padding out your entry.
- Start early
Give yourself enough time to create an impressive entry. Don’t be forced to compile something in a rush because you have left it too late. Don’t assume that the award deadline will be extended. Extensions for electronics and engineering awards do happen often, but not always.
- Ask Publitek to help – and submit yourself
While you may have asked electronics PR agency Publitek to create or review your award entry, we often suggest to our clients that they send the submission to the organisers – reflecting their personal passion and enthusiasm to get involved. And on the basis of results from past and present awards, this direct approach has proven successful.
If you’re interested in entering future awards, contact us.
