Making the Most of Your Clarion Award

Recently, I was able to check off an item high on my bucket list. I achieved an AWC Clarion Award!

The prestige of winning a national level award from a jury of your peers is exhilarating and validating. After the initial glow, I wondered “What next?” Here’s what I came up with that can help you make the most of your Clarion Award.

Now that I’ve won the award, what can I do with it?

•  If you are employed by a company or organization, inform your supervisor. Make sure the news makes it up the chain of command. You’ll have a trophy for the company trophy case!
• Have a story published in the employee newsletter. Even if you have to write it yourself, treat the story just like you would one about a co-worker’s achievement.
• Update your resume and LinkedIn profile!
• Update your website and blog if you have one.
• Inform any other business that might have had a hand in your project. I use an app to manage workflow in our financial environment. Our providers were thrilled by the news because of the role they played in our success. They can use this as a testimonial or just validation that what they do is working!
• Write a media release for the local business publications. (Thank you for raising awareness of AWC and the Clarion Awards!) Your chapter or your employer can do this for you.
• Be sure your AWC chapter posts to its social media channels and share on your personal channels. You never know who might be following or what will trigger that next gig!
• Submit it to your other professional organizations where it would be of interest for their social media and member newsletter. They are always interested in sharing their members’ successes.
• Re-purpose your entry to enter other competitions. Award programs abound and once you have entered a high-level competition like the Clarions, you will have more than enough to meet or exceed the requirements of others.

What can I learn from my Clarion Experience?

Having successfully entered the competition, look back on the process. What prevented you from entering before? What did you find most difficult when preparing your entry? What do you think made your work award-worthy?

Documentation

I’d be willing to bet that part of the pain was gathering all the documentation. We’re creative people and the housekeeping part of the job can fall by the wayside. You don’t always think of the advantages of being well-organized and keeping all of your collateral for a project in one place. I always file with the date – either year and month or year and quarter foremost. That helps me find the project I want. Some additional reasons for keeping your documentation in order:

• Report to management for performance reviews
• Do you need to repeat the project?
• Re-purposing material for another channel
• Finding photos or other artwork for a different project or report.

Refining Work Habits

We all strive for excellence, but what made the project you submitted stand out to you? Can you repeat that spark? Can you step up your game? Make that extra effort again and again and soon it will become habit and not so much effort as the first time.

Repeating Your Success

Now that you have won once, think about the next round. What projects have you done since the last deadline or are coming up that would make good entries? Plan ahead! Since AWC brings communication professionals together across disciplines, there are over 100 categories offered. Maybe you have something that fits in a different category. Maybe there are categories you haven’t even considered. You are in the groove and you can be in the winners’ circle again!

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About the Author

Peggy Fleming is Director of Communication and Engagement at West Bank, a 126 year old small community bank in West Des Moines, Iowa. A member of the Association for Women in Communications, she currently serves on the National Board of Directors and as treasurer and immediate past president of her local professional chapter. She’s a graduate of Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

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