Is my organisation or team good enough to enter for an award?

Naturally this is where everyone starts from – how do you know if you will be successful in becoming a finalist and winning? Certainly, it’s the right question to ask yourself and here are some pointers to help you.

The judges are not looking for perfection – nothing rarely is perfect. But if you think your story is leading the way, you’ve made improvements and you think that others can learn from you, then you are probably doing better than you think you are. Remember you don’t have to be perfect – you just need be one of the best to become a finalist.
Talk to your suppliers about key projects they have been engaged with you on, they often have a good external view of the industry and how you compare.
Are you an early adopter? You may well already be ahead of the competition even though you are at the beginning of your journey. If you can tell the story about how your organisation has been innovative, tried something new with encouraging results then you are likely to benchmark well.
Organisations might think they are too small to take part, but sometimes ‘great things come in small packages’. Yes, all the big brands participate in these awards but last year several small organisations walked away with Gold – e.g Pharmacy2U, EA Ireland and Gousto. So, don’t be intimidated, you just might walk away with the best award in Europe.
How many times have you listened to a conference speaker or visited another organisation and left thinking ‘we’re as good as this’ or even ‘we’re doing better than this’. If that sounds like you then what have you got to lose?
It doesn’t matter where you are based in Europe – all entries are equal. The judging process involves panel judging and judging visits, and the judges are prepared to get on a plane and travel down dirt tracks if necessary to get to you!