How to Organize Scholarships with Award Management Software
Even with a three-year-old child and a full-time job, Jennifer didn’t give up her desire to enter a nursing program. With the George Foundation scholarship, her dream became a reality. Not only to strengthen academic expertise, organizing a scholarship also means giving people a chance to grow and believe in themselves. In this article, we review the top contest management systems to launch successful scholarship programs.
Why should you use award management software in organizing scholarships?
The average number of applicants for a Fulbright Study Grant equals almost 5,000 annually. With this staggering pile of entries and the growing number of international scholarship programs evolving across the globe, it’s become impossible to handle them manually. Award management software (AMS) is used to simplify scholarship process management and pick the right tools to customize your academic competition.
How to use award management software to organize scholarships
A good award management system is a toolkit of instruments used to automate the work of event organizers, entrants, and judges. Depending on the choice of the system, you can benefit from the following features:
- An easy-to-use system for submissions. You can employ one standardized platform as a gateway for all incoming entries, no matter what the number of submissions is. Manage setup features, endorsements, and design elements to match the feel and style of your events.
- Personalized messaging. Modern contest management software usually offers customized email templates you can use to support personalized interaction with entrants and judges.
- Location independent deployment. With a cloud-based scholarship management system, it is possible to submit and score applications from anywhere, at any time.
- Custom branding. Fully configurable, scholarship submission websites and forms can be perfectly aligned with the branding of an academic institution, a funding body, or a grant program.
- Payment optimization. In case applicants have to pay for entering a scholarship, a contest management system can help you set up the right payment gateways, track statuses, and send reminders. What’s more, you can use an AMS to solicit donations to support scholarship awards.
- Automated judging. Manage the desired number of categories, customize criteria, send automatic invites to judges and receive assignment confirmations – all in one place.
- Smart reporting. Scholarship organizers are capable of building smart reports based on desired filters tailored to both entrants and judges. What’s more, custom reports and score sheets can be easily exported.
AMS for scholarships: The key tools
Here’s what you should look for if you want your scholarship program run smoothly:
- Simplicity. Don’t focus on the most feature-loaded software for scholarships. Give preference to platforms that can ensure early user adaptations and automate workload management.
- Grant application tools. Since many academic contests seek funding support, it is a great perk if your contest management system integrates grant application tools. The instruments for grant workflow creation optimized messaging, and cost estimation tools make your work much easier.
- Moderation. Students are often required to submit tons of files and fill out many forms to enter a contest. This is due to the fact traditional scholarship applications usually involve the submission of documents certifying previous background, special achievements, references, and more. To ensure the completeness of every application, use AMS with strong moderation features.
- Customer support. Your award management software for scholarships should be super intuitive in all its modules. Still, it doesn’t mean you should disregard customer support. Pick a platform to provide good technical assistance and help you respond to ongoing questions if and when they arise.
How to organize scholarships with AMS step-by-step
AMS is powerful when it comes to setting up scholarships, but it won’t do all the work for you. Check out this step-by-step plan to help you make the most out of your award management software for scholarships:
Set goals and assessment criteria
There’s a mission behind every scholarship. Find out what goals you want to pursue and how applicants can benefit from entering your scholarship. Set nondiscriminatory and objective criteria, check whether the scholarship program matches all legal requirements, and gets the message through.
Create the application form
Once you’re created the criteria, develop an application form to help entrants meet these criteria. Although a scholarship application might sound like a synonym for writing a lengthy book, try to make it as concise as possible. Through pre-populated fields and an easy-to-use electronic system, you maximize time-efficiency and capture applications’ attention.
Organize the judging process
Enable a simple and efficient judging process using your contest management system. Set the deadline for application, choose judges who can provide the best expertise in the scholarship-related field, come up with a grading rubric, and deliver a simple pre-judging training.
Select winners and award scholarships
Judges should also have a deadline for the winner selection. Once the best applications are picked, you should notify the scholarship entrants about the results of the judging and inform them about further steps. In particular, winners should understand how they receive the funds either directly or through their educational institution.
Last step – celebration!
The top 5 scholarship management software you can use right now
Developed by NextGen Web Solutions, this is a scholarship application management system that has great student profile creation functionality and delivers compliance moderation.
100% configurability, an excellent public voting module, smart reporting & analytics – these are only a few of the perks that Judgify awards management software delivers. Perfectly aligned with the intricacies of tech-driven academic contests, Judgify handles scholarships by supporting diverse submission formats, from video to prototyping materials. Here you can discover the story of GridMarkets Scholarship powered by Judgify.
Praised for excellent customer service, AwardSpring is a contest management solution which enables custom scholarship creation. On the website, you find comprehensive video training that guides you through the process.
With effective marketing and social media modules, Openfield helps you both create and promote scholarship programs from a single platform.
From customized submission processes to multi-step application review, OpenWater can take charge of all scholarship organization operations for programs of any size. Its reduced administrative load helps minimize time and cost investment.
Conclusion
Knowing how to organize scholarships through award management software, you expand opportunities for the easy management of international and cross-discipline contests. Pick an online platform fitting the feel of your scholarship program and start celebrating knowledge in a techy way.