From The Editor’s Desk (October 2021): 6 Tips on Writing Award-related Press Releases

As we entered the fourth quarter of the year, press releases on brands winning accolades began pouring in. While awards can be handed out throughout the year, a majority of them are doled out in the later months. Nominations are usually required a few months in advance to give the judges enough time to weigh in on the qualities of the nominees.

Therefore, the months of September, October, November, and December typically see a larger wave of industry awards. In October, some of the major accolades handed out in the APAC region included the Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards, the Mob-Ex Awards, and the World Travel Awards Oceania. With these wins come opportunities for press releases.

Awards allow you to set yourself apart from other companies and demonstrate your value and leadership to readers. It allows you to boast without saying “We’re the best!” because someone else did it for you.

As there’s still a couple of months left in the year for more awards to come in, PR Newswire’s Senior Editor Nathan Brown shares key points to help craft your ultimate “We’re number 1!” release.

1. Name the Award

It may seem obvious, but there are times when the PR Newswire team has received a release about a company that had won an award without naming the award. There are a few problems with this. First, if it was a big award, people won’t know the news matters without the award name. Second, if you don’t name the award, there’s no way for readers to verify the fact of your win. Give your readers the ability to understand the award’s weight and actuality by naming the award.

DocPro Limited and Sheraton Grand Macao emphasize the award name by including it in their headlines, drawing readers in with the weight of the award name.

2. Present the Prestige

Naming the award, as mentioned above, allows readers to understand the strength and significance of the award. But in some industries, awards might not be as well known to a wider readership. Therefore, it’s important to provide context for the award. Saying something like, “This is the most prestigious award in the industry” or naming other previous winners will help give readers a clue to how big of a deal it is that you won.

Pro Tip: Don’t call the award the ‘Oscars of the _____ industry’. Likewise, don’t compare it to a Nobel Prize. As important as your news is, if it’s not an Oscar or a Nobel Prize, don’t mention either of them, as doing so has become a bit of a cliché.

Coway did an excellent job of concisely explaining the significance of their win of the Good Design Award in their October release.

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3. Draw Attention to the Judges’ Reasoning

You’ve won an award. Great! But why? Your readers need to know the reasoning behind your award. What were the judges thinking? What caused your product, service, or company to stand out against others? A few sentences dedicated to the judging process provide your award win and press release with validation. It lets readers know that this wasn’t a flippant win. There was a process, and you came out on top.

PT Mowilex Indonesia not only explained the standards required for their award, but they also quoted one of the competition judges to further provide reasoning for their win.

4. Don’t Punch Down

There’s a rule in comedy that says, “Don’t punch down.” This means it’s okay to make fun of something or someone on an equal or higher level, but you never make fun of someone who’s lower than you. The same can be applied to awards releases. Don’t bad mouth those who didn’t win. It’s enough to let your readers know you won. You don’t have to drag down your competitors further by pointing out that they lost.

Fortunately, there aren’t any examples of this. But always remember not to lift yourself up by putting others down, especially in a press release.

5. Express Gratitude

Say thank you – to those who bestowed the award on you and to the team and employees in your company that made the award possible. Showing gratitude lets the readers know that your company practices humility and works as a group. If the CEO or a top-level manager is accepting the award, they need to make it clear that they alone did not win the award, but the entire company won the award.

Tricor Services Limited demonstrated in their release how their success is the team’s success, as well as taking the time to thank the award presenters and organizers.

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6. Use the Award to Pique Readers’ Interest about your Future Projects

Wrap up your release by demonstrating how this award win will motivate your company to do more. What new projects are in the works? How will the prestige of this award allow you to create more? You’re only as good as your last win, and if your last win doesn’t generate more winning, you might as well close shop. Use your last few sentences to let your readers know this award isn’t the end of things, but the beginning.

Jianpu Technology Inc.’s final paragraph is dedicated to a quote from their CEO, where it’s clear this award is not a chance to rest but to keep pushing themselves to better innovate in their industry.

So, if you’ve got more awards in the pipeline, or if you want to prepare yourself for next year, be sure to keep the above in mind. Awards allow you bragging rights as a company, but you don’t want to overdo it. Explaining what the award is, why you won, and how grateful you are (among a few other smaller details) will be enough to give readers an idea that you deserved this win, and they should watch out for you to do even better things in the future.

For further reading on the list of business awards and deadlines in the APAC region, read here.