At our Awards entry workshops, we heard some excellent advice, tips and insights from our panel of experts. Over the remaining three weeks, we are going to share some of these tips, so that you can perfect your entry.

Hot tip #1 – storytelling

When you are reading, what engages you more? Dry bullet points, or a captivating story? Bullet points have a purpose, but it’s not for telling a story. Human beings are hard wired to tell and love stories, it’s something we know from ancient times. Stories help us bond with a message, as they inevitably contain emotion. Feeling emotions make us remember things, and being memorable enables you to stand out.

A great example of generating emotion through storytelling – specific to the Awards – is Stormtech, and their reason for entering the Awards last year. Troy Creighton wanted to gain local recognition for his late father’s development of the world’s first linear drain (his father was the founder of Stormtech), so he entered the family business in the Awards. In Troy’s own words ‘Dad was a modest man and he wouldn’t seek to gain recognition for his work’ – Troy’s motivations and his story were about honouring someone very dear to him. The perfect story to capture the heart and mind of any judge.

And while motivations for entering are not assessable, telling that as a story in your introduction, would certainly capture a judge’s attention, priming them for the responses that follow.

But don’t stop the stories at the introduction. Use storytelling as much as possible in all your responses. Humanise what you have to say. Avoid being dry. While it’s important to be factual and concise, it’s also important to be a zebra among horses; to stand out from the crowd. Stories will help you do this.

In summary, use the application’s “Company description field” wisely. Don’t just copy your About Us text from your website, judges can refer to that after they’ve read, and been captivated by, your story.