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IABC Gold Quill Blue Ribbon Panel Judges
How do you win an IABC Gold Quill Award and distinguish yourself and the work of your communications team on a global level?
You haven’t heard of IABC? The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a professional network of about 15,000 business communication professionals in over 80 countries. I volunteer at the national level and also sit on the IABC Toronto board which at 1,700 members, is the largest chapter in the world. IABC’s Gold Quill Awards represent a global competition to receive the highest level of professional acknowledgment within business communication.
This spring, I was at the IABC Headquarters in San Francisco where I and 36 other communicators were invited to judge the Gold Quill finalists on the Gold Quill Blue Ribbon Panel. It was an amazing couple of days working with some of the brightest minds in communications. Judges hailed from Australia, Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, India, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Top tips for winning a Gold Quill
So how do you separate the 100 award winners from the almost 900 Gold Quill submissions? Actually, the following three key learnings also apply when I judge local or national award programs. If you want a chance at winning, make sure you follow these three suggestions.
1) The one thing that every winning entry has is S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Writing objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound form the foundation of every strong entry. It’s a pleasure to read strategic objectives that are aligned with the business need. Good objectives also make it easy to measure the true outcomes of your program. The next award entry you write, please ensure you’re spending considerable effort in ensuring your objectives are solid. And if you don’t have SMART objectives, maybe this isn’t the right project to submit.
2) When defining your audience, be as specific as possible so it’s clear that you truly understand the audience you’re targeting. And no, “shareholders”, “employees” or “the general public” is not narrow enough. After describing their key characteristics, also detail attributes such as mindset, demographics and psychographics to show that their perspective was taken into account in developing your solution.
3) Lastly, instead of talking about why your budget should be detailed or outcome should be measureable, I want to talk about something softer. While no one is counting your “passion points,” writing with passion will strengthen your entry. I came across one award which wasn’t the fanciest in terms of graphics, nor was the campaign the sexiest. But the words sprung to life because it was written with passion. It engaged me as it did my judging colleague. And because this communicator was passionate, they fully explored the business need, described the objectives in detail, offered insights into the audience and ended up winning a Gold Quill!
Following my three recommendations certainly doesn’t guarantee winning an award, but it will certainly put you on the right track.
IABC/Blue Ribbon Panel Judges Are a Special Bunch
A special shout out goes to Paul Matalucci, ABC, who graciously opened up his home to celebrate the culmination of this year’s Blue Ribbon Panel. And as the Vice-President of Advertising and Sponsorship for IABC Toronto, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank this year’s sponsor, Towers Watson and all the fellow judges, great volunteers and IABC Staff that helped make this a success.