Celebrating excellence: DWG’s Awards are back!

Episode 152: Celebrating Excellence: DWG’s 2025 Awards Are Back!

[00:00:01.760] – Sarah Escott

Tell us a story. Facts and figures are great and important, but painting us the whole picture is even better. Make sure you shout out about your achievements and successes, and don’t be shy about spelling out the impact to us. I think that’s very much this is the time to shine.

[00:00:16.600] – Nancy Goebel

DWG took off from the awards program in 2024 based on some pretty wide-ranging feedback from a mix of members and leaders within our circle. At that time, many were navigating a mix of restructurings, reorganizations, leadership changes. At the same time, others were trying to make sense of the urgency of need to jump into the world of generative AI. I have to say I’m really delighted to share that the DWG Awards are back. I’m equally excited to welcome the dynamic duo within DWG who are teaming up once again on this exciting industry event. They are none other than Elizabeth Marsh, DWG’s Director of Research, and Sarah Escott, DWG’s Events and Collaboration Director. Join me now in conversation with Elizabeth and Sarah as we talk about DWG’s launch plans for the 2025 Awards program. This is your host and DWG’s Chief Executive, Nancy Goebel. Digital Workplace Impact is brought to you by Digital Workplace Group. As always, happy listening. Elizabeth and Sarah, welcome back into the podcast studio.

[00:01:43.330] – Sarah Escott

Thanks, Nancy. Hi.

[00:01:44.790] – Nancy Goebel

I have always been a super fan of our awards program because it connects us to some really interesting thought leaders, teams, innovators, challengers, and all the rest. I’m really curious to hear Elizabeth about what the overall goals are for the 2025 edition of the DWG Awards, and maybe you can even share what criteria will be in place this time around as we go into the entry period, and then, of course, evaluate nominees and select the winners.

[00:02:29.200] – Elizabeth Marsh

Thank you, Nancy. It’s great to be back with the awards, and great to be here talking with you and Sarah about it, and of course, your listeners, and hot off the press that the awards will be launching soon. So the goal remains the same, really, for the awards about bringing that recognition and reward for the great practice that’s happening in our industry. We know that people were head down most of the time, delivering their intranets, delivering their digital workplaces. As you say, really getting into the thick of it with generative AI and getting that woven into the intranet. It’s to bring the recognition of those stories of what people are doing inside organizations. It’s to help to share that story as well with the wider industry, but also inside their own organizations as well. So that recognition of having an industry award can really help to demonstrate that impact and really make people sit up and listen, and of course, support their case for ongoing investment. I guess also I’d say it’s about connecting and inspiring the people in our industry. We know from our own membership how keen people are to network and connect in a meaningful way, and to hear those stories, and to get that inspiration of what’s possible.

[00:03:59.710] – Elizabeth Marsh

We’ve always found that with the awards that it has that catalytic effect as well.

[00:04:06.760] – Nancy Goebel

I have to say that grounding the program in this way, Elizabeth, really brings it into focus for our listeners. I know the next logical question that people would ask is, what does the application process look like? Sarah, maybe you can share a little bit about that and also how people can follow progress as we get deeper into the awards season.

[00:04:36.910] – Sarah Escott

It’s a form on our website, digitalworkplacegroup.com, under resources and then awards. There are four questions, plus the questions about who you are, what organization you’re from, but four main questions. Each one has a maximum of 200 words, so it’s not too onerous. Then you can upload up to five screenshots, images, URLs, or documents as supporting evidence. We need at least one, and we find those screenshots and that evidence really does help us. If you are going to enter, please do upload documents or evidence. We’ll get in touch with you if we need any clarification or any more information on your entry, and then we’ll announce the shortlist towards the end of July, and then we’ll be inviting everyone to the online awards event, which will be in mid-September.

[00:05:27.200] – Nancy Goebel

You actually anticipated my next question, which was going to be what were some of the key dates that people should mark in their diaries. Of course, all of those details are on the DWG website as well, in case people want to put placeholders in their calendars.

[00:05:45.360] – Sarah Escott

Absolutely. To give you the exact dates, the awards open and the form will go live on our website on April the eighth. Then you’ve got until the 27th of June to enter, which is seven weeks. We’ll then announce the shortlist towards the end of July. We’re giving ourselves a little bit of a buffer there. Then the online awards event, which is completely avoiding all summer holiday season, will be on the 17th of September. That will be late in the day UK time so that wherever you are, hopefully you’ll be able to join us.

[00:06:13.490] – Nancy Goebel

Fantastic. Elizabeth, I think another grounding point that would be interesting to hear is a selection of the most common reasons that organizations tend to apply for the DWG Awards.

[00:06:30.230] – Elizabeth Marsh

Yeah, absolutely. And I guess maybe before I dive into that, I think people might be wondering, well, has anything changed in the awards and in terms of the process and what those awards look like? So I just wanted to mention, if I was to put it in a nutshell, there are more flexible opportunities to enter and to win. And it’s also easier to enter as well. So acknowledging what you said at the start, Nancy, that the pressures that teams have been under, but also the resurgence of innovation, partly driven by AI. So we wanted there to be a really flexible range of ways to enter center. People can just come and tell us about their great story. You don’t have to think about what category am I going to enter in. You can just come and tell us about what it is that you’ve been doing. There’ll be a range of different awards that will come out of that judging process as well.

[00:07:37.370] – Nancy Goebel

I love the fact that the awards program is allowing for moments of serendipity because there is so much changing in this space that if we had precast categories, we actually might miss something in the process.

[00:07:57.230] – Elizabeth Marsh

Yeah, I think it was quite tricky for people to choose exactly what category to enter into. And so that’s one of the things that as we had that pause, we were able to look at how can we take this to the next level. So it’s really exciting in terms of if you’re coming with. It could be a great all singing or dancing digital workplace program. It could be an amazing initiative that you’ve put in place in a particular area of the organization. It could be that you’re coming with an amazing team. So know that as you come to enter, there is that flexibility. We will ask you some specific questions. It’s the opportunity for you to come and tell your story.

[00:08:42.020] – Nancy Goebel

Fantastic. And Sarah, what would be your single best piece of advice for anyone who’s debating whether or not to apply for the awards?

[00:08:55.220] – Sarah Escott

Well, I’m not sure I can just go with a single piece of advice, Nancy, but I would say, Tell us a story. Facts and figures are great and important, but painting us the whole picture is even better. An entry that stands out to me from previous years was the city of Malmö. All the judges were completely sold on visiting Malmö just from the story of their intranet, and that was great. As Elizabeth always says, remember, you don’t have to be perfect to enter. No one is. Read some of the blogs around tips for entering and those about previous winning entries to give you inspiration. There’s a link at the bottom of the awards page to take you to the Hall of Fame, which lists all the winners all the way back to 2017 with links to articles written by about those entries. That should be really helpful for you as well.

[00:09:41.880] – Nancy Goebel

Elizabeth, anything to add to that?

[00:09:43.640] – Elizabeth Marsh

Sarah, you took all the best points there. Well, I guess just to give people a flavor of what we’ll be asking them. So, of course, we’ll ask for a bit of background and context. We want to hear about the standout features or aspects of whatever it is that you’re telling us We want to know about the impact. And always we say, if you can give us a mix of quantitative and qualitative metrics to demonstrate that impact, so much the better. We want to know about the key enablers. So a little bit under the bonnet, What helped you? It could be another organization that really inspired your practice. It could be a leadership, someone in leadership position. It could be the way that you’ve worked with other teams, et cetera, et cetera. We want to know about some of those. Then, as Sarah said, that opportunity for some supporting documents or images. It really helps to point us to exactly what you want us to look at in those. That’s really going to help us make those decisions.

[00:10:46.940] – Nancy Goebel

Well, between you, Sarah and Elizabeth, I think we’ve gotten some terrific advice to help guide people’s thinking and to motivate them. I’m going to give you the final words, Sarah. Any final thoughts, reflections, anything we’ve missed?

[00:11:07.130] – Sarah Escott

Well, I would say there’s a time and place for modesty, and entering for an award is not it. Make sure you shout out about your achievements and successes, and don’t be shy about spelling out the impact to us. I think that’s very much this is the time to shine. If in doubt, you can always ask us. We’re a friendly bunch. There’s an email address at the bottom of the awards entry page, so do get in touch. Then just to remind you, everyone of the dates, opening on the April eighth, closing seven weeks later on the 27th of June, and then the awards event, which we will invite everybody who enters, too, is on the 17th of September.

[00:11:42.610] – Nancy Goebel

Fantastic. I think You’ve wet our appetite for the 2025 edition of the DWG Awards. I know I personally look forward to seeing how everything unfolds and of course, we’ll be following on social as the program builds up to and including the awards ceremony in September. But for now, It feels like we need to give you time back to continue working on the launch program and to be continued. Thank you both for coming into the studio for a quick chat today, and until next time, when hopefully we’ll be hearing a little more about the winners.

[00:12:34.780] – Sarah Escott

Thank you, Nancy.

[00:12:36.070] – Elizabeth Marsh

Thanks.

[00:12:40.600] – Nancy Goebel

Digital Workplace Impact is brought to you by the Digital Workplace Group. DWG is a strategic partner covering all aspects of the evolving digital workplace industry, not only through membership, but also benchmarking and boutique consulting services. For more information, visit digitalworkplacegroup.com.