Tips for a Successful Submission from Past Reign Awards Judges

Posted by admin on May. 3, 2022 / 0

Looking to help your Reign Awards submissions stand out (for the right reasons)? We talked to two judges from Reign Awards past about what their thought process was as they were judging the entries of the year. Read below for their notes - and get your entries submitted by Thursday, May 12th!

	Shannon Brush, 2020 Reign Awards Judge A strategist engaged with the business administration of her firm and active in the A/E/C community, Shannon brings forth 25 years of experience developing brand recognition and new business. Since 2002, she has contributed to her firm’s growth through recruitment, mentoring, marketing and new service line business development, while giving back to the AEC community as an A4LE, SMPS, and NAIOP volunteer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon, USGBC LEED accreditation and SMPS’ CPSM accreditation since 2006. Shannon's Tips: Responding to the call for submission is much like developing a statement of qualifications. Those that stand out make it easy for the jury to appreciate the effort and impact, regardless of firm size or budget. Find the “why this” and ”why us” for your submission, and tell the story. Use the opportunity to spotlight your firm's commitment as well as the marketing team's savviness and it will shine through.
	Scott Johnston, Associate DBIA: 2019 Reign Awards Judge Scott leads the Johnston Training Group programs that enable technical professionals to present powerfully, write purposefully, and facilitate seamlessly. In addition, he leads the JTG Selection Panel research, conducting in-person interviews with selection panel members from numerous public and private organizations. As president of JTG, Scott has helped A/E/C firms at every stage of the process differentiate themselves and win more work—from early proposal creation to the final project interview. Scott's Tips: Looking back on the 2019 Reign Awards, the submissions that stood out to me were: Based on an idea that I had not seen before Backed by metrics on the audience and results of the campaign Passed the "smile test" (it made me smile). These often used self-deprecating humor. Often but not always for a good cause Negatives that stood out to me were: Overly promotional Too similar to another entry. I remember there were two logos designed by the same marketing firm that looked awfully close. I was a little tougher on the firms that seemed to have unlimited budgets.

Shannon Brush, 2020 Reign Awards Judge

A strategist engaged with the business administration of her firm and active in the A/E/C community, Shannon brings forth 25 years of experience developing brand recognition and new business. Since 2002, she has contributed to her firm’s growth through recruitment, mentoring, marketing and new service line business development, while giving back to the AEC community as an A4LE, SMPS, and NAIOP volunteer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon, USGBC LEED accreditation and SMPS’ CPSM accreditation since 2006.

Shannon's Tips:

Responding to the call for submission is much like developing a statement of qualifications. Those that stand out make it easy for the jury to appreciate the effort and impact, regardless of firm size or budget. Find the “why this” and ”why us” for your submission, and tell the story. Use the opportunity to spotlight your firm's commitment as well as the marketing team's savviness and it will shine through.

Scott Johnston, Associate DBIA: 2019 Reign Awards Judge

Scott leads the Johnston Training Group programs that enable technical professionals to present powerfully, write purposefully, and facilitate seamlessly. In addition, he leads the JTG Selection Panel research, conducting in-person interviews with selection panel members from numerous public and private organizations. As president of JTG, Scott has helped A/E/C firms at every stage of the process differentiate themselves and win more work—from early proposal creation to the final project interview.

Scott's Tips:

Looking back on the 2019 Reign Awards, the submissions that stood out to me were:

Based on an idea that I had not seen before
Backed by metrics on the audience and results of the campaign
Passed the "smile test" (it made me smile). These often used self-deprecating humor.
Often but not always for a good cause

Negatives that stood out to me were:

Overly promotional
Too similar to another entry. I remember there were two logos designed by the same marketing firm that looked awfully close.
I was a little tougher on the firms that seemed to have unlimited budgets.

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Tips for a Successful Submission from Past Reign Awards Judges

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