6 Tips to Nail Business Awards Entries

And why you should even bother entering - from an award-winning Bookkeeping Business Coach

With the Institute of Certified NZ Bookkeepers Excellence Awards nominations due this Sunday, I thought it was a good time for me to offer my top tips on how to craft an awards entry so that you have the best chance of winning. 

I've had a lot of bookkeeper clients who have been finalists and winners at these annual awards over the years, and I have won a couple of them myself, so you could say that I have some idea of what it takes to enter.

As well as your professional bookkeeping association awards, there are usually annual awards held by local and regional business associations as well that you can enter. 

I'd love to see more bookkeeping businesses entering, and winning, awards.

I want to see the good work of bookkeepers being more visible so that collectively we raise the profile of bookkeepers everywhere.

Whether you win or not though, the process of entering awards can be a fulfilling and rewarding experience. 

• It's an opportunity to look back and to reflect on what you've accomplished. Too often we don't do this. Instead we focus on just how much work we still have to do to get to where we want to go. Look up and look back at how far you've come. 
• It's an opportunity to ask your clients for testimonials and to write up case studies of client sizes stories, which you can then use, not only in your awards entry, but on your website and in social media posts and in other marketing assets. 
• Is an opportunity to meet others involved in the awards process which may lead to some great business opportunities, and as a finalist or winner you'll get exposure and publicity, as well as kudos and gravitas which will only enhance your marketing and sales activities. 

The work of a good bookkeeper is so impactful for businesses and quite frankly I think that we all should be celebrated for it.

So here are my best 6 tips. I hope you'll take them and use them to enter awards. And if you win or make it to the finals, you gotta let me know, OK?! 

1. Gather testimonials

Your clients will usually be only too happy to write testimonials for an award entry. They want to support you and they want you to win! They're in your corner and they're rooting for you. 

Their testimonials will also help you to answer the award questions, and they'll lend a lot of weight to your entry. 

As a bonus, you will usually be delighted and touched by what they say about you. 

2. Answer the questions. 

This seems like such an obvious piece of advice but I've seen so many awards entries where the intended answer to the question did not really answer the question at all. 

It's actually quite easy and very common to go off on a tangent when writing. You need to be mindful of this and keep bringing yourself back to the topic at hand. 

Think about the judges who will be reading your entry. Re-read the question and your answer. Will the judges be satisfied that you have answered the question?

Get someone else to read what you've written and ask them to be brutally honest - is it easy to understand and have you answered the question? 

3. Don't waffle

The judges have a lot of reading to do and you want to capture and keep their attention. 

Don't go on and on. Be succinct. Answer the questions in as few words as it takes to strongly convey your message and not a word more. 

Re-read your entry over and over. Where could something be better written? Where are the parts that you're brain stumbles over. Fix those.

4. Spelling, grammar, and formatting matters

Bookkeepers are numbers people and good bookkeepers have a strong attention to detail. Make sure that you demonstrate that with your awards entry by ensuring that your spelling and grammar is on point. 

Your award entry will be easier to read if you break up long paragraphs and, where relevant, utilise headings, sub headings, and bullet points. 

5. Don't compare yourself to others. 

I've talked to many bookkeepers who are a bit scared to enter awards because they see other bookkeepers who seem to be doing much better than them, and they think they're not good enough to win so why bother entering. 

Firstly, what you see is not always what's going on. In fact, they might be thinking the same thing about you! 

Seriously, I hear this kind of thing all the time from bookkeepers new to my coaching group, From Bookkeeper to Business Owner. They're amazed and relieved to find that bookkeepers they looked up to are actually just the same as them. 

Secondly, don't underestimate yourself. You are doing great things too! 

6. Be proud of, and celebrate your achievements and successes. 

This is not a time to be shy about what you've achieved, the lives you've impacted, and the work you've done. Shout them out loud and mention them all in your awards entry.

This is your time to shine and to recognise yourself, and your team if you have one, for all the good work that you've done. 

Stephanie Crawford

Bookkeeping Business Coach 

Fun Fact: I am sponsoring one of the ICNZB awards this year - The 2024 Bookkeeping Trainer of the Year. I was the inaugural winner of this award way back in 2014, so this one holds a special place for me.

PS: Interested in working with me as your bookkeeping business coach? Send me an email to start the conversation.