Welcome back to our special series on How To Win A B&T Award.
There is only one week – yes, ONE WEEK – before entries to this year’s B&T Awards close on Monday 19 July.
We know that many of you will be finalising your wonderful entries, so we’ve decided to bring you our very own editor-in-chief, David Hovenden, to help you iron out those final details.
His top tip? Get the judge’s attention – and do it fast.
“The thing I always remind people is, the judges sometimes have a huge pile of entries to get through, so don’t think your one is special and an individual snowflake,” he said.
“Make it interesting from the get-go – get their attention, because they’re not going to contemplate it for hours.”
And while it’s all about getting the judge’s attention, he warns entrants to be careful not to stray into the realm of fiction.
“Tell the truth,” he said.
“Everyone’s prone to gild the lily, to a certain extent, and I think that’s fine – everyone expects that.
“But if the bullshit barometer starts going off a little bit too hard, it’s hard to believe anything that you say after that, and then you’re dismissed pretty quickly.”
Having been involved with the judging process since 2008, Hovenden has seen all number of different approaches in terms of how people approach the judging process.
With this wealth of experience, he knows that while there is no ‘secret recipe’ when it comes to the B&T Awards, there are certainly some strategies that help.
“The winners have had completely different approaches,” he said.
“The thing that seems to really captivate the judge’s attention is a really genuine story arc that just gets people in and listening from the get-go.”
To find out more about this year’s B&T Awards, you can visit the website here.
A friendly reminder that entries close on Monday 19 July 2021 at 5pm AEST (late entries close on 26 July).
