Worthy of Recognition (Hunter Field Editor’s Note)

(Arkansas Business)

Arkansas Business just named this year’s 40 Under 40 class.

That came on the heels of our Arkansas Business of the Year Awards ceremony, and it will be followed shortly by the 20 in Their 20s honorees and the Executive of the Year Awards.

What I’m trying to say is we put on a lot of recognition programs here. In some cases, like Business of the Year, we bring in outside judges, but for others, we review the nominations and select winners internally.

I also submit a fair number of award nominations each year and judge several journalism contests.

Suffice to say, I’ve seen a lot of really great award nominations; I’ve also seen some real stinkers.

I’m also just one perspective, so I asked a few people who work on awards at Arkansas Business Publishing Group for their thoughts on what makes a great award nomination. So bookmark these thoughts for the next time you’re submitting your company or staff for an award, whether to Arkansas Business or elsewhere.

1) We all seem to agree: The most important thing to emphasize is tangible achievement. What specifically has this person or company accomplished? What impact did they have? Is there data that reflects this? A good example: “John Doe developed a new customer outreach strategy that directly grew direct-consumer revenue by 15% year over year.” Instead, we see a lot of vague platitudes about nominees. Those never move the needle like concrete achievement.

2) The “who” matters. Who is nominating this person or company? Who is writing letters of support? For a personal nomination, was the nomination or letter prepared by a supervisor or company board member? Or was it prepared by the nominee’s mother? I don’t have to tell you which carries more weight. If it’s a company nomination, was it submitted by a satisfied client? A bank president? Another business leader? Or was it submitted by someone in-house or a paid marketing consultant? If a nominee has multiple nominations submitted and/or letters of support, that can also be a differentiating factor with hundreds of other nominations to wade through. However, it’s important that each letter or nomination be unique and authentic. No copy-pasting and slapping someone else’s name on the letterhead.

3) Context is key. Judges aren’t experts on every industry. If a loan officer has a $100 million commercial portfolio, how does that compare to the industry average? Annual revenue growth of 15% might be well above industry average for a legacy company but unimpressive for a tech startup. Give judges a frame of reference.

Always remember that judges are human, so it never hurts to tell a story. How did this person or company come to be deserving of recognition? What did they overcome?

All of these things can help judges get to the heart of who is truly worthy of recognition.

Email Hunter Field, editor of Arkansas Business, at hfield@abpg.com