Thoughts on judging the Silver Inkwell Awards

So this summer, I had the honor and privilege of organizing the judging for the Silver Inkwell Awards of the DC chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. I'd judged them once previously and enjoyed the experience immensely. I volunteered again this year and found myself as lead judge.

I've had an inauspicious start in the role -- I have no doubt I'll do the job again next year -- as this is the first time, at least in recent memory, that the chapter has not given out a top prize. In the end, I and the Blue Ribbon panel, my colleague who was heading up the Silver Inkwell program itself and the president of the chapter, all made a tough but important decision. The award is intended to hold local IABC-member communicators, and by role model, the local communications industry, up to a high, albeit subjective, standard. To hand out what in effect would have been "The Best of What We Got" instead of the "Best of the Best" would have devalued all past and future winners of the honor. In the end we handed out a good number of awards of merit and awards of excellence for each of the categories, but no "Best of the Best."

But my feeling is that by way of compromise, it is incumbent upon me to pass along the common critiques and common praises of the judges to help those who might be working on next year's projects and potential submissions. And so, gleaned from the judging sheets, here is a quick run-down:

The key to winning is a great, thorough and detailed -- but concise -- workplan, with the work samples showing the successful execution of that workplan. Take the submission requirements and use it at the start of your project planning to help as a guide to the project itself. Nice benefit is that when the project is done, your submission's already basically done! Even if you never submit, that submission form will have helped you keep focus on some fundamentals of communications success.

Pay particular attention to the audiences (because there's always more than one, isn't there?). Tell the judges who the audiences are, giving demographics, but more to the point, tell the judges something about the needs and interests of those audiences that led you to the approach you ultimately used. Tell the pertinent points here. You can attach supporting documentation (survey/research results).

In objectives, make sure they are time-bound and measurable (there is always something to measure, quantifiable or anecdotal), and at least one should map back to the overall goals of your organization -- if your company sells widgets, one objective should have something to do with having a measurable impact on widget sales.

In approach, make sure to explain why you chose the approach you chose and it should have reference to some supporting research (remember your audiences' needs and interests?). Mention budget and deadlines, but don't forget to mention then where you came in against that budget and those deadlines! If it's a tight budget, explain why you think it's a tight budget. Telling the judges your budget was $30,000 doesn't mean much without some context.

And in results and evaluation, make sure you reference results against your stated objectives. If you didn't have the time or budget to measure results adequately, tell the judges what you will do next time or would have done with a bigger budget and/or more time. Show them you have the right mindset, even if you don't have the appropriate resources. I know I would give you a lot of credit for that. If you don't have quantifiable results -- and even if you do -- make sure you have anecdotal feedback from both audience and your supervisors/boss/president.

Some complain that they can't do all the above in the two pages you're limited to. I tell you that you can. Some of the best audience descriptions I read in the nearly 100 submissions I've judged were done in a few sentences and bullets. And they still had room for an additional paragraph or two of background (yep, you can do that too, even though it's not required!).

Make it easy for the judges to score you high. Don't make them work to find the answers.

Now good luck with the projects and get them submitted for next year's competition!