At The Awards People we believe that any award which is important to you (or important to those who are important to you) is a good award to enter.

Frequently, however, we’re asked by clients to recommend ‘a good award’ as they know they want to boost their business through awards, but have no specific one in mind.  Without a doubt the Institute of Directors (IoD0 Awards will be amongst those we suggest.  The strapline used on the official website perhaps says it all, it describes the awards as:

“Business Pride of Britain – A celebration of leadership talent, success and achievement”

Now, you may think there’s an element of bias in our recommendation as The Awards People have had great success across many of the categories within the IoD in previous years.  Last year alone we had three Winners and three Highly Commended amongst our awards-attending posse of clients.  Taking that to one side though we genuinely believe that these awards are a real highlight in the calendar of profile-raising opportunities and should not be dismissed from any ambitious, growing business’s wish list.

What’s not to love about the IoD Awards?

• With around 12 categories there’s something in there for everyone to go for
• With Regional winners going on to the Nationals you automatically get two bites at the cherry for one piece of effort
• The IoD brand is exceptionally well recognised and well-respected amongst the business community
• Media uptake after both Regional and Nationals awards is usually guaranteed
• The IoD regions love social media so there’s great exposure to be had on a these increasingly important platforms too
• The networking opportunities in the room are to die for!

 

Now, we wouldn’t be fulfilling our professional responsibility if we didn’t include a few words of caution for those thinking that the IoD Awards are definitely for them.

Firstly, the awards are now open and the finals tend to be spread throughout the month of June so there’s a good amount of time, but not an infinite window to get working on your entry.  Remember too that between now and the closing deadline we have the Easter holiday period and a few bank holiday weekends – just the kind of things that can significantly squeeze time availability and add a little more pressure to the day job.

 

Also, whilst, in our opinion, the automatic entry of Regional winners to the National awards is a fabulous thing, it is worthwhile bearing this in mind whilst completing your application.  Your achievements will obviously stay exactly the same, but your presentation of the facts may need a slight tweak to make sure that they stand up to national scrutiny and keep their relevance on this bigger stage.

Finally, we’re not the only people who love these awards, so competition is generally very strong.  This is particularly true of the SME category where the number of entries can be significant.  If your initial thought is that SME is indeed for you take a moment to look at the remaining categories to see if there is another which is applicable to you and could therefore be a good alternative.  The Non- Executive category for instance includes any Trustee work you do for a charities, local community organisations etc. and – as is often the case – the International category and that of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion tend to be less heavily entered.

It’s fair to say that these few ‘cautions’ are relatively minor and apply to just about every award out there.  There is no doubt at all in our mind that IoD should be a serious consideration for businesses of every size and type.

If you would like to know a little more about our own experience and that of our winning clients in previous years then simply get in touch with Rachel via rachel@theawardspeople.co.uk .

To view the whole list of categories and see the winners and the ceremonies from last year’s event visit https://www.iodawards.com/welcome