Georgia Cantrill, Leopard Co
Industry awards occupy an interesting place in professional life. We invest time in entering them, gather to celebrate them and, naturally, hope to win them. But beyond the trophy, the photograph and the announcement, what value do they really create? Are industry awards worth entering?
Having won Emerging Talent of the Year – Client Side at the Construction Marketing Awards last year, I have had reason to reflect on that question. My conclusion is that the greatest value of awards may not actually be the award itself. It is what happens around it.
Awards create a valuable reason to reflect
Construction and the built environment are industries defined by delivery. There is always another project, campaign, deadline or challenge competing for attention. Success is often acknowledged briefly before focus shifts to what comes next.
For marketing teams, there is an additional dimension to this. Compared with some sectors, construction has been relatively late to embrace marketing as a strategic business function. While that is changing, marketing can still sometimes be viewed through the lens of outputs: the website launched, the brochure produced, the event delivered, or the social channels kept active. In that environment, there is a risk that marketing becomes something to be completed rather than something to be interrogated: a tick-box activity rather than a contributor to wider business objectives.
A good award entry challenges that way of thinking.
To enter properly, it is not enough to state what was delivered. You have to return to the original objective, examine the decisions that were made and provide evidence of what changed as a result. Why was this the right approach? Who were we trying to influence? What did we learn about our audience? What was different because of the work? And, importantly, how did it contribute to the objectives of the wider organisation?
That shift from what we did to what difference it made is valuable, and can even expose gaps to learn from. In fact, perhaps organisations should ask themselves some of the questions contained in a good award entry more frequently. What were we trying to change? What evidence do we have that it worked? What did we do differently? What would we improve next time?
Awards provide the deadline that makes us answer them
They allow the industry to learn from itself
There is another form of learning that happens beyond the individual entry. Awards create a snapshot of what an industry considers excellent at a particular point in time. Shortlists bring together different approaches to similar challenges; winning work provides examples of ideas that have been tested in practice.
For those working in construction and the built environment, that matters.
Our sector contains an enormous range of disciplines, organisations, and audiences. It can be easy to remain within the boundaries of our own specialism or part of the supply chain. Awards provide an opportunity to look sideways and see how another organisation approached engagement, how another marketer demonstrated value, or how a team responded creatively to a familiar industry challenge.
Not every useful idea needs to be copied. Sometimes simply seeing a problem approached from another perspective is enough to challenge our own thinking.
In this sense, a strong awards programme does more than identify excellence. It helps circulate it. It helps to enrich an industry.
Recognition creates community
The word ‘competition’ naturally sits alongside awards, but my experience has made me think that ‘community’ is just as important.
An awards programme brings people together around a shared professional identity. That is particularly valuable for specialist communities such as construction marketing, where people may work in very different organisations but encounter many of the same challenges.
The awards evening itself is only the most visible part of that. Shortlists introduce us to people and organisations we may not previously have known. Judging creates an exchange between experienced professionals and emerging talent. Conversations continue afterwards. Work is shared, people connect, and new professional relationships begin.
For someone earlier in their career, that sense of belonging can be particularly significant.
Winning Emerging Talent of the Year – Client Side was meaningful to me as recognition of my own work, but it also placed that work within a much wider professional community. It was a reminder that a career is not developed solely within the boundaries of one organisation. We learn from, contribute to and progress alongside a wider network of people working across the sector.
Because of the CMA Awards, I have been fortunate enough to remain part of the CBE Network and to continue learning from people whose paths I may otherwise never have crossed. These people I met through them judging my entry, sharing a table with me at the awards, and even just from the wider network!
Awards help define what we value
Perhaps one of the less discussed functions of industry awards is that they send a wider signal. What we choose to celebrate tells people something about the industry we want to create, and even shows the steps we can use to get there.
When awards recognise measurable impact, innovation, sustainability, social value, collaboration, or emerging talent, they give those things greater visibility. They demonstrate to people entering the profession, as well as those already established within it, what good practice can look like.
That creates responsibility for awards organisers and judges. An award has value because the profession trusts the standards behind it. Clear criteria, credible judging and meaningful categories matter.
It also explains why being selective about the awards we enter is important.
Not every trophy carries the same value. Before entering, it is worth considering what an award represents, who is judging it, what is being assessed and whether its definition of excellence aligns with your own.
And yes, winning still matters
None of this is to suggest that the outcome is irrelevant. Recognition from industry peers is valuable. For organisations, an award can strengthen reputation, provide independent evidence of good work and give teams an opportunity to celebrate something they have achieved together. For individuals, particularly those establishing their careers, it can provide confidence and visibility.
I certainly valued winning my own award.
But focusing solely on winning overlooks much of what makes entering worthwhile.
There is value in reviewing a year’s work and realising how much has happened. There is value in discovering that a result you were pleased with can actually be quantified. There is value in seeing how peers are approaching the same challenges. There is value in meeting people with whom you share a profession, if not an employer. And there is value in an industry collectively taking the time to decide which ideas, behaviours and achievements deserve to be celebrated.
So, are they worth entering?
The answer depends on the award.
A credible industry award should demand something of its entrants. It should make us examine our work rather than simply promote it. It should expose good ideas to a wider audience, create opportunities to learn from one another and recognise achievements against standards that mean something to the profession.
When it does those things, the value is considerably greater than the trophy presented at the end.
My experience of the CMA Awards reinforced that for me. Winning was a proud moment, but the lasting value has been broader: reflection on my own development, recognition from my peers and a stronger connection with the professional community of which I am part.
Perhaps, then, the best measure of an industry award is not simply whether it is worth entering, but whether you are better for having been part of it.