ARDA Awards Program Helpful Hints
This page is meant to offer helpful hints for the submission of award
entries and the completion of the required forms, namely the
Nomination Summary Checklist, Entry Form B, and for all
entries in the Sales & Marketing division, Entry Form
C.
Getting Started
First, we recommend that you read through this year’s Awards
Nomination Guide for descriptions of the various award divisions and
categories. You can submit as many entries as you like, but it is
best to nominate only those that you believe are truly
outstanding. Downloaded the Nomination Guide.
After selecting your entries, the next step is to put together the
narratives, which play a very important role in the judging process.
Since the judges cannot visit your properties or meet your staff, they
can only rely upon your descriptions within the narratives, along with
any collateral materials such as photos or PowerPoint presentations, to
evaluate your nominees.
HINT: Make sure your narratives really answer the
questions outlined within the Nomination Guide for a particular
category. Thoroughly proof your writing for spelling, grammar,
dates, etc. to ensure you are submitting a polished piece.
Writing the Narratives
ARDY narratives can be anywhere from one to three pages in
length. (This is true of the ACE narratives too, with the exception of
the Project of Excellence Award, which has a limit of eight
pages.) The emphasis should be placed on quality, not quantity, so
include all the information you believe is relevant, but do not include
unnecessary information just to make your narrative three pages
long.
HINTS:
Management & Administration: Make sure you
contact supervisors, peers and subordinates of any individual(s) that
you plan to nominate. Look for complimentary customer comment cards,
etc. These are all great resources for information that will be helpful
when writing your narratives.
Sales & Marketing: ARDA judges will not be
supplied with the statistical information on Form C, so make sure to
incorporate positive statistics within the narratives as well.
Advertising & Promotion and Resort Design: Make
sure to include information about the target audience, overall budgets
as well as cost per piece or square foot, and any innovative concepts
used to overcome unique situations or challenges.
Collateral Pieces
Along with the narratives, additional materials serve to assist the
judges in making their decisions. Any items included with a single entry
that are not part of the written narratives, Nomination Summary
Checklist, Entry Form B, Entry Form C or disks containing the electronic
version of the narratives and entry images, are considered collateral
material.
Each collateral piece should be counted separately and clearly listed
on the Nomination Summary Checklist. All pieces should be clearly
marked with a label on the back that lists the entry’s
name, category number, and category name.
Examples of collateral pieces:
Management & Administration: As long as
the required electronic image of the nominee has been submitted on a
disk along with electronic versions of the narratives, no additional
collateral material is necessary; however, you may include comment
cards, articles, or any additional information highlighting the
achievements of the nominee.
Sales & Marketing: As with Management &
Administration, as long as an electronic image is included, no other
images are necessary. Form C is the most important piece of additional
information that needs to be sent in, but does not have to come in with
the initial entry packet. This year’s deadline is January 31,
2008. Even if you do not have the numbers, send in a blank Form C, as
any entry missing this form will be disqualified.
Advertising & Promotion: It is important to
include entry samples such as a direct mail postcard, copy of a brochure
or magazine, etc. Imagine the judges are your target consumer
audience – let them see exactly what you would show to the
public.
Resort Design: Photo boards showing part of a
design, renovation, construction, architecture, before & after
shots, etc. If submitting boards, please be sure to clearly label
what the shot is of on the back of the board.
HINT: Any collateral pieces mounted on display
boards show much better against a dark background like black than with a
white display board.
HINT: A picture is worth a thousand words, but
less is more. It is better to use a few really terrific photos
than many photos of lesser quality. This is especially true of all
the categories within the Resort Design division. Please keep in
mind that all finalist entries will have their picture displayed at the
2008 Convention, so make sure you are submitting your best photos.
Filling Out the Forms
Nomination Summary Checklist: The purpose of this
page is to provide a general summary of ALL the entries being submitted
by an organization. It should include a listing of each and every
entry with its entry name, category number, category name, entry
fee, and the number of collateral pieces. The nominator’s
information must be filled out in full with the address, email, and
phone number of the person responsible for putting together the entry,
in case any follow up is needed.
Each Nomination Summary Checklist holds up to six entries, so if you
have more than six nominees, use additional Nomination Summary
Checklists. (For example, if you have thirty entries, you can send in
five Checklists.)
Entry Form B: One fully completed Entry Form B
must accompany each separate entry. For example, if you
are submitting only one entry, you will need one Nomination Summary
Checklist, and one Entry Form B. If you are submitting three
entries, you will need one Summary Checklist and three Entry Form
Bs.
Entry Form C: All entries in the Sales &
Marketing categories require an Entry Form C. These forms are used
as a weighted total that is averaged in with the judges’ scores to
assist in determining winners. The due date to have these in by is
January 31, 2008.
Of course, if you have any other questions not addressed above, email
awards@arda.org or call (202)
371-6700 and ask for Awards.
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