Audit & Risk Awards: Top tips for a great nomination
The Audit & Risk Awards are the only annual opportunity for the internal audit function to get together and celebrate excellence and recognise internal audit achievements. They also provide a chance for individual teams to publicise their success both to their peers and to their stakeholders.
Below are our top tips for submitting a great nomination.
Do
- Read the whole entry form: You may need to get evidence or endorsements
- Contact the people you need to endorse your nomination in good time
- Share the burden: Ask others in your team to contribute ideas, endorsements and suggestions
- Plan the evidence you need to support your case
- Answer the questions: Bullet points are a good way to keep focused
- Think of the judges: Keep information short, simple and to the point
- Set the scene: Summarise your world with a few key points (number in the team, sector, location(s), etc)
- Tell the story: Think about the main points and the highlights. What has changed? What have you achieved?
- Read the category details: There’s no point submitting an excellent nomination in the wrong category
- Spread the word: Tell your contacts to enter
- Think laterally: Do you know a team or an inspirational leader you could nominate?
- Check out the awards section of the Chartered IIA website for the full criteria
- Get in touch if you have any queries about entries
Don’t
- Wait for others to nominate you: It’s fine to nominate yourself
- Forget the basics: Don’t assume the judges already know how many people are in your team or challenges specific to your industry
- Leave entering until the last minute
- Be put off because you work in a small organisation
- Struggle in silence: Contact us if you have any questions
- Suffer from false modesty!
For a sense of how these top tips work in practice, here are some words of encouragement from former Audit & Risk Award winners Maxine Grainger and Eammon Toland. Maxine and Eammon were part of the DFS team that won 'Outstanding Team: Private Sector' at the Audit & Risk Awards in 2021.
