Over the past 10 years I’ve had the privilege of judging several different spa awards internationally. It’s always with a sense of excitement that I receive the nominations. However, the excitement soon turns to dismay, as I turn through page after page of marketing hyperbole and missed opportunity. If your spa is worthy of winning an award, here’s some advice on how to do it justice:

1 Does your spa really fit the criteria for the category? This is important. Don’t apply the shotgun approach of entering a heap of awards in the hope that you’ll win one, as it irritates judges if you waste their time. For example, the destination spa category always fills with resort spas claiming to qualify because they hold yoga classes. Before submitting your application, carefully go through the criteria and make sure you can meet every one.

2 Craft your submission specifically for the award category. The worst thing you can do is cut and paste general blurb from your brochure or website. It demonstrates a lack of care or forethought, so I’m staggered how often it happens. Ask ‘why should I win this award?’ and remember that you don’t need to describe every aspect of your spa – focus only on those that would make you an outstanding recipient.

3 Avoid marketing hype. Judges are industry professionals, not consumers. Your mission is to inform them of your strengths relative to your competitors; not to get them to book a treatment. Explain how your spa meets the criteria and offer tangible proof – often I’ll get to the bottom of a submission having not found one meaningful piece of information.

4 Keep it concise and complete. Respect the judge’s time and keep your submission as concise as you can, while still including all the necessary information. If it’s too long, you’ll quickly lose your reader’s attention. However, don’t go to the other extreme and just include a link to your website, as few will have time to explore it. Make it easy for judges. Use bullet points to summarise key parts that justify your spa’s worthiness to win the award. Focus on competitive advantages – things that you do that are unique or demonstrably better or different compared to others in your category.

5 Include images where possible. If the award organiser permits, attach images – not links – of your spa’s facilities, floor plans or other graphic elements. They will make your submission far more memorable than others.

Applying for awards isn’t difficult. You just need to have a clear understanding of your spa’s strengths and competitive advantages. Judges typically have more than 200 pages of nominations to sift through, so if you put yourself in their shoes before you write you’ll be ahead of the game. Good luck!

* For more marketing advice, this time on how spas can improve their online consumer reviews, see p26.