I have been involved in awards programs more times than I can count. At a conservative estimate, I would guess I have read somewhere near 10,000 entries and have seen the full gamut of quality.

Composing an award-winning entry is no mean feat and we appreciate that startups may have a trickier time than their more established counterparts.

While startups represent the future of HR technology, they also sometimes lack the experience in this area.

Getting the balance right on an entry is tricky; it needs to be engaging but not boastful, insightful without becoming too dry, concise without being a simple list of information.

But there are consistent elements that form the foundations of a great entry that stands out from the merely good ones.

Now that entries are open for the UNLEASH Startup Award once again, here are some of the key things to think about when crafting your entry for the awards program at UNLEASH World 2024.

Understand how to communicate the value of your proposition

It’s often the case that fantastic propositions are let down by poorly crafted entries that fail to showcase these strengths in the best light. When thinking about why your entry should win, focus specifically on what makes your proposition special.

Is there something you can offer that no-one else can? Are you focusing on a problem no-one else is? Does your technology encapsulate the meaning of innovation? If so, tell us!

This is especially important when composing your video section; facets like UI are interesting, but they’re not going to win the award, so don’t spend too much time waxing lyrical about non-essential elements of the proposition.

Read the questions, then again and again

Three is the magic number, so it’s probably the minimum number of times you should read the questions being asked of you. Judges are particularly observant of how entries are addressing the questions we pose.

If your entry isn’t able to provide sufficient justification or instead answers a different question altogether, you can bet the judges will pick up on it and that you’ve already lost ground to other entries.

Focus on the details

The entry forms for UNLEASH awards programs have a word limit for good reason – besides judges being busy people. The word limit may seem constrictive at first glance, but if you can focus on the real achievements or values the entry has to offer it’s more than enough.

Get straight to the point and be as succinct as possible; don’t bury the lede with unnecessary marketing copy pulled directly from your social campaigns. Trust me when I say this does more harm than good.

The bottom line is that the details of your offering and approach need to be able to stand up to scrutiny from the judges, as does your presentation of them.

You have to back up your claims

Similarly to the last point, your entry cannot rely on grand claims without the goods to back it up when judging time comes around. This is the time to break out the data on your unique selling points and successes so far.

Won some big-name clients? Got a growing user base? Expanded into new regions? Attracted significant VC investment? Tell us about it, but make sure you also include the all-important evidence that this isn’t a vainglorious boast.

Context is always crucial here. I cannot tell you the number of entries I have seen full of impressive stats that fall apart because there is no context provided.

Put some love into it

Passion can be infectious. You want judges to get excited about your entry, so how can you expect that to happen if you’re not passionate about composing it? Tone goes a long way in presentation and putting some love into it can only help your efforts.

Take it from a journalist/former editor – any piece of writing is better with a bit of love. Don’t just hit the word limit and send it in; take a few runs at it and polish it until it shines.

Plus, eagle-eyed judges take note of entries containing errors or those that appear to have been written and submitted in one sitting.

Good luck!

Want more information?

UNLEASH will be sharing more information on the judging phase, FAQs and top tips from the judges soon!

You can find out all the information you need right now, right here.

But for more information on our Startup packages, which provide marketing opportunities to showcase your achievements, please contact:

Kennedy Cook, Startup & Investor Program Lead – at Kennedy@unleash.ai

Aniko Illes, Startup Ecosystem Sales Lead – at Aniko@unleash.ai or on 00 36 20 255 87 41