Louise Turner – Head Judge
Picture this: a cozy café in Normanton, early 2022. Louise Turner and Claire Sutherley, Managing Director of We Are Wakefield, sat across from each other, sipping their coffees and enjoying a rather indulgent slice of cake. Their vision was crystal clear: Wakefield’s thriving businesses deserved recognition, celebration, and a stage to shine. And so, over steaming mugs and shared dreams, the seeds of the Wakefield Business Awards were planted. The rest is history!
Since 2012, Louise has been running Awards Writers, a specialist awards-writing consultancy. Working with a small, hand-picked team of fellow experts, Awards Writers has secured trophies for individuals and businesses of all sizes across all sectors in the UK and internationally. A staggering success rate of 80% of being entries shortlisted and around half going on to win keeps clients coming back year after year. She’s an experienced judge and author of Glory: The Magic Formula for Winning More Business Awards.
As a former communications and PR manager, Louise has spent her career sniffing out stories. She firmly believes it’s the combination of a strong narrative backed up with good numbers which helps people win awards.
Louise will not be advising on any entries to the Wakefield Business Awards.
Louise’s Top Tips for a Successful Awards Entry:
Thinking of entering the We Are Wakefield Business Awards? Here’s how to improve your chances
Here our chair of judges, Louise Turner of Awards Writers, gives you some insider information about how to create a brilliant award entry sure to impress.
Awards can be a brilliant want to promote your business and get external recognition for your achievements. If you’re thinking of entering the Wakefield Business Awards, created by We Are Wakefield, here are some tips for crafting a compelling entry.
Think about your story
While you will need some evidence to impress the judges with (and there are some tips on that further down), what really sticks in people’s minds are stories. So why are you choosing to enter a set of awards now? What’s amazing about your business at the moment versus last year or the year before?
Maybe you’ve overcome some huge obstacles. Maybe you’ve experienced significant growth. Maybe you have transformed all or part of your business. Start here, and be clear about the story you’re telling. Then move on to figuring out how to provide the crucial evidence.
Data for impact
Once you know your narrative, it’s time to match some numbers to your key points. You need to make sure you can provide actual numbers – or percentages to protect commercial confidentiality – rather than just saying “improved” or “decreased”.
Volume metrics are fine and show scale of your achievements versus others’, but what you really want are impact metrics.
So don’t tell the judges that 9/10 people rated your training 10/10, tell them (in numbers) what changed as a result. Think about how to get numbers which reflect quality – that could be the percentage of new business which comes from referrals, or repeat business, or using Google Reviews or TrustPilot scores if you use those kinds of platforms.
I often use the example of a hospital facilities team when talking about data. They might have a target to change 100% of lightbulbs in theatres within 30 minutes of them being reported as out. They could be tempted to report against this target, but the real impact is enabling life-saving surgery to go ahead. How many hours of surgery have they enabled by changing those lightbulbs quickly? That’s the kind of data that will really impress the judges.
Answer the question
Entering awards is like sitting exams – you need to answer the question you’re given. We’ve been really clear about the scoring criteria for the Wakefield Business Awards, so make sure you give the judges something to read about each of those headlines or it will be easy to lose marks.
Start with the end, not the beginning
It might be relevant that your company was founded in 2007 and now employs 14 people, but it shouldn’t be the first thing the judges read. Start with a sentence about what you’ve achieved and the reason for your entry. It’s a bit like your lift pitch. Make your first sentence unforgettable and one which signposts the judges to some of the key information they are about to read. If you have an amazing number to prove your story, use that here too!
