How the awards industry is responding to COVID-19

Despite the challenges they face during the current crisis, over 50 awards organisers have come together in a collaborative survey. The idea is simple; the organisers have to make some tough decisions, but if they share their thoughts and plans, they can collectively make better-informed decisions (by factoring in what their peers are thinking and doing in response to the Coronavirus pandemic).

The survey was conducted by us here at Boost Awards. Why should Boost do this? We represent hundreds of awards applicants, run the biggest awards listing sites in the world, and have helped found the Awards Trust Mark. We’re in a great position to facilitate this research for the benefit of everyone involved with business awards. 

In this article we’ll share the key findings that might affect those considering entering awards.

The show must go on…but later

For each respondent, we looked at their answers to several questions and categorised them by their most likely plan. As we can see, the most popular approach is to delay the event.

Despite the challenges, only two of the 51 respondents are considering cancelling their awards; the vast majority are planning on continuing as is, or with a later event date. 

So how long will the delay be?

When we asked organisers considering a delay (in announcing the winners) how long it would be, the majority said a delay of 2-4 months.

“The Property Marketing Awards were postponed yesterday until a date yet to be resolved. Our presenter Daisy McAndrew has agreed to reschedule, and alternate dates have been identified. The awards will remain open for entries for the foreseeable future. All members of the database, sponsors and registered entrants were notified yesterday. No negative responses have so far been received as everyone acknowledges the inevitability of this.”
Colin J Peacock FRICS, Property Marketing Awards

But what about those considering delaying their programmes in their entirety?

A three-month delay is clearly the most popular choice by far. The major downside is that it will delay March and April deadlines until the already very popular June and July period. For us at Boost, this is already our ‘busy season’ for awards deadlines. Also, organisers need to consider that autumn is the busiest time for ceremonies to be held, so the availability of the major venues is likely to become extremely limited with a backlog of postponed events.

When asked “If you are delaying the programme as a whole, how long for (in months)?”, there is a strong consensus of three months. 

Sadly, this crisis is really hurting the industry. But the message for those entering awards is please do continue doing so, secure in the knowledge that they will still be running ─ even if a bit delayed. Let’s all (organisers and entrants alike) continue to recognise the outstanding people, teams, projects, products, and businesses ─ in need of a boost more than ever.

I would like to thank all the organisers that took time to participate in the survey and wish them the best of luck with their awards. As we are all experiencing, things are changing rapidly day-by-day, so further developments may bring about different approaches.

I hope you have found this survey useful, and of course reiterate that the most important thing of all is that people remain as safe and healthy as they can be. 

Chris 

If you want to stay abreast of the changing deadlines and awards dates, we will be working hard here at Boost to keep our awards database up to date. Please let us know your new dates using this form. You can benefit from this for free by subscribing to our monthly Awards Deadline Reminder emails, or by visiting www.awards-list.co.uk or www.awards-list.com

(C) This article was written by Chris Robinson, MD of Boost Awards, which owns the intellectual property rights contained within. It is based on the findings of a survey of award organisers carried out on 17/03/2020. Many thanks to those that contributed. Please contact us if you would like to see the full detailed survey results.  

How the awards industry is responding to COVID-19

Despite the challenges they face during the current crisis, over 50 awards organisers have come together in a collaborative survey. The idea is simple; the organisers have to make some tough decisions, but if they share their thoughts and plans, they can collectively make better-informed decisions (by factoring in what their peers are thinking and doing in response to the Coronavirus pandemic).

The survey was conducted by us here at Boost Awards. Why should Boost do this? We represent hundreds of awards applicants, run the biggest awards listing sites in the world, and have helped found the Awards Trust Mark. We’re in a great position to facilitate this research for the benefit of everyone involved with business awards. 

In this article we’ll share the key findings that might affect those considering entering awards.

The show must go on…but later

For each respondent, we looked at their answers to several questions and categorised them by their most likely plan. As we can see, the most popular approach is to delay the event.

Despite the challenges, only two of the 51 respondents are considering cancelling their awards; the vast majority are planning on continuing as is, or with a later event date. 

So how long will the delay be?

When we asked organisers considering a delay (in announcing the winners) how long it would be, the majority said a delay of 2-4 months.

“The Property Marketing Awards were postponed yesterday until a date yet to be resolved. Our presenter Daisy McAndrew has agreed to reschedule, and alternate dates have been identified. The awards will remain open for entries for the foreseeable future. All members of the database, sponsors and registered entrants were notified yesterday. No negative responses have so far been received as everyone acknowledges the inevitability of this.”
Colin J Peacock FRICS, Property Marketing Awards

But what about those considering delaying their programmes in their entirety?

A three-month delay is clearly the most popular choice by far. The major downside is that it will delay March and April deadlines until the already very popular June and July period. For us at Boost, this is already our ‘busy season’ for awards deadlines. Also, organisers need to consider that autumn is the busiest time for ceremonies to be held, so the availability of the major venues is likely to become extremely limited with a backlog of postponed events.

When asked “If you are delaying the programme as a whole, how long for (in months)?”, there is a strong consensus of three months.  

Sadly, this crisis is really hurting the industry. But the message for those entering awards is please do continue doing so, secure in the knowledge that they will still be running ─ even if a bit delayed. Let’s all (organisers and entrants alike) continue to recognise the outstanding people, teams, projects, products, and businesses ─ in need of a boost more than ever.

I would like to thank all the organisers that took time to participate in the survey and wish them the best of luck with their awards. As we are all experiencing, things are changing rapidly day-by-day, so further developments may bring about different approaches.

I hope you have found this survey useful, and of course reiterate that the most important thing of all is that people remain as safe and healthy as they can be. 

Chris 

If you want to stay abreast of the changing deadlines and awards dates, we will be working hard here at Boost to keep our awards database up to date. Please let us know your new dates using this form. You can benefit from this for free by subscribing to our monthly Awards Deadline Reminder emails, or by visiting www.awards-list.co.uk or www.awards-list.com

(C) This article was written by Chris Robinson, MD of Boost Awards, which owns the intellectual property rights contained within. It is based on the findings of a survey of award organisers carried out on 17/03/2020. Many thanks to those that contributed. Please contact us if you would like to see the full detailed survey results.