When writing a business award entry for clients, agencies should remember that judges are people and people like great stories. One way for agencies to capture the judges' attention and interest is to structure the entry narrative with storytelling elements that showcase the client's brand journey.

Tell the Backstory

Agencies should provide backstory on the client's humble beginnings, purpose-driven origins, or first innovations that sparked their launch. Highlighting the challenges the client faced as the underdog fighting giants with more resources but less passion for progress is important.

Agencies should feature the inflection points, big idea pivots, and strokes of genius that shifted momentum in the client's favor, and showcase quantifiable achievements that trace their arc to success.

Use Vivid Descriptions, Statistics, and Testimonials

To liven up the entry, agencies should use compelling and emotive vocabulary that creates vivid mental images for judges as if they're experiencing it firsthand. Blending client stories with hard quantitative proof is key. For example, agencies can combine client quotes sharing the tangible impact the client's solution provided with statistics showcasing customer or revenue growth fueled by that solution to make the story leap off the page. This brings the judges along the client's success journey.

Balance Details with Clarity and an Easy-to-Follow Storyline

While entries must showcase comprehensive client achievements tied directly to scoring criteria, too many details can overwhelm readers. Agencies should use section headers, brief explanatory transition sentences between evidence examples, bulleted lists when helpful, and strong summaries to organize key information. Emphasizing the most powerfully differentiating proof points and guiding judges smoothly towards the ultimate outcomes without losing them in the weeds ensures the client's victory emerges clearly.

Craft an Appropriately Sized Hero Story

Agencies must craft an appropriately sized hero story for the client, matching the story arc and length to the specifics of the award application. Reviewing submission guidelines carefully to understand if there are precise word counts or other length restrictions is crucial.

Many applications must be reviewed quickly by judges, limiting how much background and narrative can be included. In those cases, agencies should focus on a clear, condensed storyline highlighting only the most vital background and pivotal moments.

For awards with more flexibility, the agency can expand into a longer-form narrative. Either way, tightly weaving in powerfully differentiating proof points and key metrics cleanly into the hero's journey timeline to showcase the client's success aligned to judging criteria is essential.

Letting the unique strengths of the client's brand emerge impactfully within a narrative matched to expectations is the goal.