How to Write an Award Nomination

Receiving an award for one’s hard work is indeed one of the most deeply joyful moments that one can ever get in one’s life. However, we all know how hard it can be if someone comes to you and asks you for you to recommend them for an award nomination.

Writing an award nomination for someone is quite the tricky task, as you have to be careful to include all the achievements made by an individual using the most appropriate words that do not seem to be an exaggeration.

As such, here you will find some great tips for writing an award nomination letter or an award nomination speech, using the right language and structure.

Who deserves an honor or an award?

The first thing that is necessary before writing an award nomination letter or speech, is to understand who deserves the honor of being awarded. This is highly important since you cannot merely keep writing nomination letters for just anyone who comes along.

This also means that you’ll have to exercise good judgment since assessing a person to see whether they deserve an award or not can be an overwhelming task.

You may begin by referring to your nominee’s achievements that are related to the criteria of the award. That is, if an award is being given for community work, it would not be appropriate to highlight the educational achievements of your nominee. Therefore, the achievements must be relevant.

Furthermore, you must clearly understand the meaning of the achievements in the context of the award. For instance, achievements that are associated with community work will mostly be in terms of the benefits that the community gained as a result of your nominee’s efforts.

The benefits can be in the form of the number of people who completed a particular educational program that was designed to improve their literacy skills, or the number of streets cleaned etc.

The underlying idea is to assess your nominee’s achievements based on a certain parameter as defined by the award committee.

Don’t just say your nominee is outstanding – prove it!

A very common mistake that people make while writing the award nomination text, is that they simply state the achievements rather than demonstrating how the achievements actually made a nominee deserving.

For example, you may write that your particular nominee volunteered in a community program and because of that he/she deserves to get an award. This is quite vague and does not elaborate how the nominee contributed to the cause which the community program aimed to support.

A more appropriate way to write would be to explain the activities that the nominee carried out and if possible, how did they help achieve the overall goals of the program.

This may be done by giving a very specific measure of success. As an example, if the community program was to look after the elderly, you can say that the nominee took the responsibility of taking care of a certain number of aged individuals and write what the nominee did to improve the well-being of the elderly.

Furthermore, it’s also a good idea to include the significance of the particular acts that the nominee did. It could be that the nominee did not do anything different from others and hence, this may not be enough to get an award.

It needs to be borne in mind, that an award is for those who have done something exceptional. As such, it is crucial that you highlight anything that makes your nominee stand out from the rest and mention how the particular activity was impactful.

How do I find the right words to present my nominee?

This is perhaps the most difficult part of writing an award nomination speech or letter. The nomination text should contain words that neither belittle the importance of the nominee’s efforts nor exaggerate them. One needs to strike the right balance between these two extremes.

However, the entire text should be kept formal and colloquial words such as “amazing” and “awesome” should be avoided. Rather, the text should contain words and sentences that sound more authentic.

For instance, “I found XYZ’s efforts highly conducive to improving the administrative procedures involved in….” Words such as “admirable”, “distinguished” and “effective” are highly recommended.

In short, words that develop authenticity and trust should be incorporated organically to make sure the overall text is logical and persuasive in a very subtle way.

What should I not do?

Nomination committees select candidates based on how effective their efforts were toward a certain cause. That is, the nomination text should not be about how great a nominee is individually, or how highly qualified he or she is for that particular cause.

The case should, therefore, include the impact that the nominee had or made. As such, do not include things that every other person was doing. As mentioned earlier, this will not be compelling since there was nothing which distinguished the nominee in particular.

Furthermore, the nomination letter is not a nominee’s profile. This implies that the letter should not contain a list of awards or certificates that the nominee has achieved in the past and how experienced he or she is.

Structure of an award nomination letter

Now that you know how to write an award nomination letter, the next thing in line is to see how you can structure your claims in a coherent and cohesive manner so that the right message is conveyed in the most effective way.

Although there is no “rule of thumb” as to how an award nomination letter should be structured, there are, however, certain guidelines that you can follow in order to write a more meaningful piece.

Opening Statement

The nomination letter should begin with a concise opening statement that briefly states why the nominee deserves an award. The statement should clearly outline the contributions the nominee has made and how his or efforts have been helpful.

Remember, the opening should not be longer than one paragraph. It is simply an overview of why the nominee is qualified for receiving such an award.

Supporting Statements

The next section should elaborate the opening statement. That is, the section should support and corroborate the achievements that you have mentioned in the opening statement. This includes explaining more clearly as to what the nominee did, how did it help and what was the long-term impact of the activity.

Moreover, it’s in this section that you can write about the particular activities which were truly exceptional.

Closing Statement

Lastly, you should end the letter with a closing statement. Here, you can write more clearly as to why you feel the nominee deserves an award and if possible, include testimonials from others who also think the nominee should get an award.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the award nomination letter should contain concrete evidence as to why the nominee is deserving of this award. The implication is that the nominator should be innately aware of who the nominee is.

The one important thing to remember here is that nominating someone for an award is a thing that involves a great amount of responsibility. You should remember that you cannot nominate someone who has not gone that extra mile to achieve the honor.

Therefore, as long as you’re sure that the nominee has done great efforts that have had a positive long-term impact on the society, writing a nomination letter will not be all that difficult.