Having entered many projects over the years in national and local competitions, I long realized that there are many benefits to be derived from entering a contest, irrespective of winning an award or not. I will list some of the major benefits.
Restored Chicago Vintage Metal Bay Window
1- Probably the least understood benefit has do with building one’s self-confidence. Daring to enter a competitions helps you recognize and defeat disempowering thoughts like: I am not good enough; I will embarrass myself etc. (you get the picture)
2- it focuses your company on quality. Since making an entry requires you to document a project from start to finish, all the steps become important.
3- That message about quality gets across to employees as well: their work and rigor of execution makes a difference. The net result is: Enhanced pride in their work.
4- It helps build your brand as a craftsmanship-oriented company. Making an entry generates pictures and stories that you can then use to populate blog posts, create a video on YouTube or Facebook or a project album on Houzz.
5- An entry becomes a marketing tool.
6- If you want to really impress a client, give them a copy of your entry or a version of it. That will become part of the stories they tell others about their project with your company.
Winning is frosting on the cake. If you do win an award: Tell the world through blog posts, newsletters, mailings, videos etc. You might also be able to get written up in magazines: get reprints of the article. In our case, we have collected four reprints over the years, which we still use today in our presentation folders.
Restored Chicago Vintage Metal Decoration
It is also OK to submit your project in more than one competition. You might as well leverage your efforts. On occasion, a dollar amount is sometime attached the top winning entry. Wow, that is a bonus! We have won a couple of those as well. Submitting a project for an award is fun and exciting!
Attached are pictures of our last winning project, which won the PIPP Award for Residential Exterior Restoration. Earlier last Fall, it also won one of the Chicago Painted Lady awards.
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