Program sources and search
Read this when discovering programs in Step 2 and when finding the submission link in Step 5.
Program types and where to look
| Type | What it is | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Industry association awards | Run by a professional body for its field | The association's own site, under awards, recognition or events |
| Trade publication awards and best-of lists | Run by a media outlet that covers the category | The publication's site, newsletters and editorial calendar pages |
| Analyst recognitions | Reports, quadrants and rankings from research firms | The firm's research pages, including calls for vendor participation |
| Conference awards | Presented at an event in the category | The event's site, under awards or call for entries |
| Customer-voted badges | Awards based on reviews or votes from customers | The review platform's vendor pages, and its rules for collecting reviews |
| Regional business awards | Local or national awards for growth, workplace or innovation | Regional business media, chambers of commerce and trade bodies |
The four passes
1. General search. Always first. Build keywords from the company's subject matter expertise, technology, solution, industry and market, and run each against each type. Vary the wording buyers use:
- "[use case] awards [year]" and "[category] award winners"
- "[category] best-of list", "[category] top vendors", "call for entries [category]"
- "nominate", "submit entry", "apply" together with the category name
Replace the year with the current cycle. Search at least three pages of results per query.
2. Who else won. This is the highest-yield seam. List competitors, complementary solutions and industry service providers (agencies, consultancies, integrators). On each one's site, press page, newsroom and announcements, record every award, list and recognition shown, across several years. Each is a program that already fits the category. Then check the program's own site for the current cycle.
3. People awards. Search for recognitions of individual and team achievement: executive and leader awards, rising talent, women in the field, top-under lists, team and department awards. Check where the company's executives, peers and competitors' leaders appear. Entering a person needs that person's written approval.
4. Business awards. Search for awards for the company itself: fastest growing, best workplaces, innovation, entrepreneurship, regional and national business awards, and sector rankings. Check regional business media and chambers of commerce.
Reading a program's page
Record from the program's own site:
- categories and their definitions;
- eligibility rules (company size, region, product category, minimum time in market);
- the cycle's dates: opening, deadline, judging, announcement;
- the cost of entry and any other fees;
- judging process, criteria and judges;
- the winners page for earlier cycles;
- where the entry is submitted.
Finding the submit link
- On the program's official site, look for entry, submit, nominate, apply, call for entries or enter now.
- Follow the link and confirm it opens the form or portal for the current cycle and the category in question.
- If the program uses a hosted submission portal, accept it only when the program's own site links to it.
- Record the full link, the category it opens and the date you checked.
- If the cycle is closed or not yet open, record the dates, mark the link as such, and note when to check again.
- If you cannot find the entry page, give the official program page and mark the link unverified.
Do not accept links from aggregator lists, reseller pages, social posts or email promotions. Do not build a link from a pattern seen on another program. Do not open forms with company data, and do not submit anything.
Log
Keep a log of every program considered, including those skipped, with the reason. It saves rework next cycle and shows how the shortlist was formed.