By the Texas Construction : Best of 2007 Awards Jury

Don’t bother to read this article unless you’re ready to change your approach to writing award submissions.

We were honored to be jurors for this year’s Texas Construction Best of 2007 awards program. While most of us are technical experts, several are communications professionals. During the judging process, we discussed at length what types of information to put into this article. We jurors want you to know what we valued in the submissions and what made certain projects stand out – for better or for worse.

While any juried process is fraught with the reality of subjective scoring and independent opinions and perceptions, we found that our individual scores were not that disparate. In fact, we were in full agreement on the choice of projects that we felt were worthy to receive the Judges Awards.

However, we all found opportunities to quip about some of the messages provided in the submissions. Here’s a little inside information that can help you know what NOT to do when you prepare your next award submission. We made notes as we went through the submissions and found the statements below to be the most distracting.

A word to the wise…don’t be intimidated if you see a sentence here that you’ve written before. Know that we jurors have also written many award submissions and somewhere along the line, we’ve probably committed every faux pas mentioned below. The key is not to be perfect, but to gain knowledge so we can improve as we go.

That said, think about the following suggestions before you prepare your next award. The statements in quotes are examples taken directly from award submissions. The parenthetical statements behind each sum up our reaction.

DO NOT state the obvious

• “Close communication with the owner became the order of the day.” (What? Does that mean you prefer to not talk regularly to clients?)
• The schedule and scope of work were demanding.” (Aren’t they all?)
  Or better yet …
• The schedule was demanding and left no slack time for delays.” (That made us wonder … Do you normally build in slack time?)Or how about this …
• Throughout the project we remained focused and committed.” (Do you typically lose focus and commitment as a project wears on?)

DO NOT make vague statements that do not clearly describe your role in the project.

• “Allowing the design team to implement the changes enabled our success.” (Doesn’t every job have changes? Was it noble that you actually allowed the changes?)
  Here’s another …
• [Our firm] “facilitated the solution.” (Huh?)
  Or how about this one …
• “A review of the previous day’s events were also reviewed to identify potential hazards.” (Are you saying you review your reviews in case they point to future problems?)
• Materials and finishes were carefully selected.” (So are you generally not careful? Was attention to detail a new revelation?)

DO NOT state “Job site safety is our No. 1 concern.”

Probably a third of the submissions all made that very statement, “Job site safety is our No. 1 concern.” Please be a bit more creative and definitely more quantitative. A description of your firm’s corporate safety program does not help the jury to understand how the safety program worked specifically on the job you are submitting. Supply your safety record on this project and don’t give us the corporate line.

Similarly irritating statements were:

• “We are committed to providing a safe workplace.” (You better be!)
• “Safety concerns for the project were minimal.” (That’s scary.)
• “Careful scheduling of subcontractor work was very helpful in preventing the development of workplace hazards and unsafe working conditions.” (What? You really lost us on this one!)

DO NOT make statements that make you look silly.

• “Maintaining a productive and safe job site at any time is a challenge.” (Really? If this project did not represent a safe and productive job site, why would you submit this project as an example of your firm’s excellence?)
• “Keeping doors closed to minimize dust …was an unending task.” (So are the workers so undisciplined that they can’t shut the door as they come and go?)
• Construction innovation for this project consisted of intently listening to the [client].” (If listening is innovative, the construction industry is in big trouble!)
  And this was a favorite …
• Our management sought to ensure the highest level of workmanship throughout the project by using qualified subcontractors and suppliers…” (Are you saving the unqualified ones for your next job?)

DO NOT assume jurors can read your mind.

• “Ozone action days were recognized.” (Did you stop work? Make an announcement? Have a BBQ? Take the day off? What does this sentence mean?)
• Our project management approach consists of all activities to be performed on the project.” (Okay, what does that mean?)

DO NOT depend on politically correct words and phrases.

Over and over, the submissions used the same language. Try deleting these words and phrases from your corporate vocabulary because everyone else is saying the same thing:

• “challenging, collaborative, quality, innovation, exceeding expectations.”And...
• “We met and exceeded the owner’s expectations.”

Help Us Help You

Next time you create your award submission, here are some helpful ideas to pass around to the team. Following these guidelines may just help your project rise to the top! These are in no particular order, but do represent a cross section of the juror’s reactions:

1. Provide a floor plan and site plan so we are oriented to the project as we review the text.
2. State your safety record clearly and be specific to this project - no corporate sales pitch. Present your safety facts in bulleted or outline form, such as:
   • Safety officer on site daily
   • No lost time accidents
   • OSHA inspection on X date; zero safety violations found Etc..
     Do not give us your registered and trademarked acronym for your firm’s safety program. Guess what…everyone else has one and it it doesn’t differentiate you from any other firm. Tell us how you took your corporate program and tailored it for this specific job (all projects are unique) and the excellence achieved from this effort
3. Outline your presentation by the categories requested in the Call for Entries (i.e. 1. Solutions to difficult challenges, 2, Project Management, 3. Design Innovation, etc). Don’t make the jurors have to hunt for the information upon which they are supposed to grade your entry.
4. Write to fascinate the reader. Be innovative in how your present your information.
5. isually, make the type easy on the eyes. When reviewing more than 100 presentations, the jurors are likely to skip over presentations where the type is too bold, or too scrunched or too difficult to read. Keep it simple.
6. Balance the visual appeal of your projects with solid information. We are not judging the entry by the photography. Some beautifully designed projects were marked down drastically because they didn’t provide the information requested in the Call for Entries.
7. The history of the client and their past are not generally relevant. We want to know about your involvement in the current project.
8. Provide quick facts that are pertinent and meaningful and stand out on the page.
9. For Pete’s sake - turn off your track changes function before you print out your award submission!

Remember too, that jurors are regular people. As such they are naturally diverse. Some look for detail, some for the bottom line; some are very visual, some don’t see the design and are immersed in the text and context. Some are academically inclined, others are not. In short, your best submission will contain solid, succinct, clear value statements in brief paragraphs and bullet points. These can then be supplemented with extensive detail in an appendix.

The bottom line is that we recommend you make your presentation simple, smart, clear, concise, and to the point. Augment with relevant appendices and you’ll be on your way to the winner’s circle next time around.