Awards…rewarding or reality check?





It’s awards-season and we’re in full flow with numerous black-tie events taking place. PR companies, like RNN, love awards and clients love awards! Who doesn’t want to be acknowledged for all of the brilliant ideas, making budgets stretch to bursting point, late night deadlines and hard graft every once in a while?

In the last few weeks, we’re totally thrilled for two clients who picked up national awards in their respective sectors. Jayne Gibson from Insight.Out Financial was the very worthy winner of Financial Advisor of the Year (Scotland & NI) at the inaugural Women in Finance Awards in London, and our client Gala Retail won Best Charitable Initiative at the FMCG Awards in Dublin for its work with Special Olympics Ireland - a sponsorship that we’re truly humbled to have worked on for the past four years.

A very wise mentor once told me that that you either play the game or not, so it’s in this vain that we’ve entered the CIPR PRide Awards for a number of years. In our first year, we won CIPR PRide Outstanding Small PR Consultancy… pretty good going for a young, fledgling business. In the following years, we took home silver awards and commendations, and tonight, Friday 19th October, we’re up for three awards at the CIPR PRide Awards.

So…even though we’re ‘in it, to win it’ - sometimes a reality check is needed. Many businesses deliver excellent work, day in, day out…just like we do. But to win an award takes something special…and not every year is special for every business...it’s worth bearing this in mind as awards cost money!

We’re playing the game and by entering selected awards (and only the ones which we think we’ve a good chance of winning), the agency benefits from pre-publicity, acknowledgement and validation for our work, a morale boost for the team and a great night out. If we’re lucky enough to win, it’s the icing on the cake and this is how we roll, making awards rewarding regardless of the outcome 😊

Awards checklist:

  • Have you had an exceptional year?
  • Does your entry meet the criteria?
  • Are you willing to include stats, figures, evidence?
  • Have you time to dedicate to the entry?
  • What will you win if you don’t enter?

Remember: awards…reality check required but rewarding regardless of the outcome!