As an association leader, you know that there are many factors that contribute to your organization’s success. Much of your time likely goes into setting and working toward strategic goals that help you expand and fund your efforts long-term. At the same time, it’s essential to continuously provide value through your membership program to maintain engagement and encourage renewals.

An association awards program can advance both of these efforts by increasing the value of membership and boosting your organization’s prestige, which will push it toward its growth goals. However, you need to manage your program properly to maximize these benefits.

Whether you’re just launching your association’s awards program or already have one that you’d like to improve, you’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll review some dos and don’ts of association awards management.

Do: Create Streamlined Nomination Processes

Association members are more likely to put their names or others’ in the running for your awards if the process for doing so is clear. OpenWater’s awards management guide recommends creating a landing page or microsite for your program that includes a user-friendly submission form and the following information:

• Eligibility requirements for nominating or entry

• Award categories and qualities you’re looking for in the winner of each one

• Submission deadlines, as well as when applicants can expect to hear back from you

• Materials required for consideration, along with details like accepted file formats and word counts for text entries

• Contact information so applicants can reach out with questions as needed

Once you’ve posted all of this information on your association’s website, promote it across various marketing channels, such as email, social media, SMS, and your member engagement platform. Like with many of your organization’s initiatives, multi-channel marketing will expand your awards’ reach and encourage more applications. Remember to link to the submission form in every marketing message so applicants can easily access the requirements and complete their entries.

Don’t: Confuse Awards & Grant Management

In addition to awards, your association might also offer industry-specific grants that members can apply for. Although awards and grant management overlap somewhat in their best practices, they should be their own distinct processes. Awards and grants differ in several important ways, including their:

• Focus: Awards recognize members’ accomplishments, which can come with various monetary or non-monetary rewards. Meanwhile, grants provide funding for ongoing or upcoming projects.

• Time horizon: Associations distribute awards entirely based on past actions, while grants look more to the future of what the applicant could achieve.

• Application process: A short submission form with the occasional attached file as proof of an accomplishment is sufficient for awards, and award recipients may receive nominations from others or submit their own names, depending on your rules. Grant candidates almost always apply for themselves, and their proposals are typically much more detailed.

You might be able to use some of the same strategies and even the same technology for awards and grant management. However, they need to be two separate initiatives so everyone can be on the same page about the purpose of each one and track them effectively.

Do: Prioritize Fairness in Judging

When awards applications close and the review process begins, every submission should have as close to an equal shot as possible at receiving the award. While some subjectivity is unavoidable in judging, you can minimize bias by:

• Carefully vetting judges. Whether they’re staff members or volunteers, every judge you select should have experience with awards programs and be familiar with their category. Additionally, they shouldn’t have personal or professional connections to nominees that could influence their decisions.

• Creating a standardized rubric. Have each judge score their assigned submissions on specific criteria using a clear scale so you can easily compare quantitative data across all applicants.

• Conducting multiple rounds of review. Multiple perspectives allow you to get a clearer picture of which applicants should win your awards, rather than basing decisions on one judge’s personal preferences.

You may also choose to anonymize submissions before sending them off for review, just in case an influential connection between an applicant and a judge fell through the cracks. If you take these measures, award winners will know they deserve what they’re getting, and those who don’t win are more likely to understand that you did everything you could to ensure equity.

Don’t: Recognize Every Award Winner in the Same Way

The most exciting part of awards program management is actually presenting winners with their awards! However, as eCardWidget’s member appreciation guide explains, “Not every [recognition] idea will resonate with all of your members,” and your awards will be most meaningful if you present them in a way that makes the individual winner feel valued.

Here are a few top award winner recognition ideas to test out:

• Hand out certificates, trophies, or plaques depending on the award’s prestige.

• Provide a check, gift card, or tangible present as an extra token of appreciation.

• Create badges that members can display on their profiles in your member portal or directory.

• Host an awards ceremony or other appreciation event for winners and their loved ones.

• Spotlight recipients in social media posts, blog articles, an online gallery, or a press release submitted to a local news outlet.

Use what you already know about your members to decide which of these strategies would be most effective for them. Additionally, track feedback on your recognition approach and any concrete data you can, such as ceremony attendance or social media interactions, to determine which ideas are working well and which ones you could modify or scrap.

Do: Use Awards Management Software

The right software can make all the difference in streamlining awards program management and ensuring a positive experience on both sides. However, many awards platforms are only designed for application management, meaning you have to use disparate solutions and spreadsheets to track the rest of the process.

Your association should instead invest in comprehensive awards management software that includes the following features:

• Form and microsite builders with drag-and-drop functionality for ease of use.

• Multi-round review capabilities to centralize judging assignments and rubric storage.

• Communication tools so you can efficiently contact everyone involved in the program.

• Auto-updating online award galleries that simplify this popular recognition method.

• Reporting and analytics tools for data-driven decision-making.

Additionally, look for an awards management platform that integrates with your organization’s other major solutions, such as your association management system (AMS), member engagement software, and payment processors. That way, data will transfer seamlessly between tools, speeding up workflows and reducing the risk of mistakes associated with manual entry.

Association awards management may seem complicated at first, but with the right strategies and technology on your side, you’ll be able to create a thriving program that supports your mission and member engagement efforts. Just remember that every association and member base is different, so it may take some trial and error to adapt the tips above to your needs, allowing you to achieve your specific awards-related goals.