Judges’ Top Tips for UC Awards 2022

It’s the final countdown to the UC Awards submission deadline of June 17th! If you haven’t yet submitted your application, there is still time. What’s more, our judges have shared some top tips for UC Awards applications. It’s a sneak peek into the judges’ minds to clarify the process and hopefully give a nudge to the reluctant superstars of UC.  

We want as many applicants as possible to throw their hats in the ring and ensure our winners are the best of the best of unified communications. If you’ve got that niggling feeling that you or your company are worthy of a place on the podium in one of our awards categories, please submit an application.  

Don’t be modest: we want to shower you with the praise and recognition you deserve, but we also want to provide genuine industry insights through the process. It may also help you to get confirmation of where you stand among the competition.  

Top Tips from the Judges

I caught up with our esteemed panel of judges recently to see if they had any advice for applicants. They were kind enough to share their top tips for the UC Awards 2022! Here’s what they said:

Zeus Kerravala, Founder & Principal Analyst at ZK Research:

• • • • • “Be aware of the category you are applying in. There have been so many great entries, but they don’t quite fit the categories they have applied for, so they receive low scores.”
        • “Articulate your story in business value with examples.”

Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder at EnableUC:

• • • • • “Be specific; make sure you are answering the question and not just cutting and pasting text from your marketing brochure.”
        • “Numbers and statistics will help make your case.”
        • “Focus on your unique selling point; what sets you apart from the other worthy applicants?”
        • “With all technology, I am most interested in how it was used to improve business outcomes.”
        • Stay within the word limit.”

Blair Pleasant, President & Principal Analyst of COMMfusion LLC and Co-Founder of BCStrategies:

• • • • • “Most of the judges are all analysts – don’t quote other analysts or provide other analysts’ data to make your case (we don’t care if you’re on the Gartner MQ or if F&S gave you an award).”

Melissa Swartz, Founder at Swartz Counsulting LLC:

• • • • • “Be specific; make sure you are answering the question and not just cutting and pasting text from your marketing brochure”

Jon Arnold, Principal of J Arnold & Associates:

• • • • • “Don’t include links or attachments – am never going to look at those”
        • “Don’t use sales/marketing-speak, talking about how great your products are or how you’re the clear market leader”
        • “Show some style/soul so your message sounds authentic – not just written by your PR agency so they can enter you in yet another awards competition”
        • “Know your audience – us. We’re not marketers or the media. We’re the thought leaders – we see the whole market, so play up to our perspective – think like you’re the student and we’re the professor – how do you get me to see your point of view in language that speaks to me.”

Official Entry Criteria

It is also worth reading the official awards’ criteria which apply to all entries across every category:  

Ability to Improve Experience: Did you update or deliver a high impact feature that helps you improve the user, team, customer or business experience? How did you think of the idea, and how engaged were the beneficiaries in the process?  

Ability to Innovate: Did you release a breakthrough product or service? What was the overall impact on your business, stakeholders, people and customers? How do you cultivate a high-performing and innovative culture?  

Ability to Execute: What were your priorities? What challenges did you face? Did you collect and analyse any data, and why? How did you boost performance? How did you manage the process? What were the results?  

What are the UC Awards?  

Returning for its fifth year, the UC awards seek to publicly recognise success stories within the UC and Collaboration industry.   

The application numbers have grown exponentially, year on year, so we expect the turnout for the UC Awards 2022 to be the biggest yet.   

Last year’s winners included big company names such as Cisco, RingCentral, Avaya, and Poly, as well as individual acknowledgements to Oded Gal from Zoom and Javed Khan from Cisco. You can view the full list of winners from 2021 on our previous winners’ page.  

Important Dates

• May 6th: Entries Open   
• June 17th: Entries Close   
• July 8th: Finalists Announced   
• July 28th: The Ceremony Begins  

How to Enter

Register your details and download a UC Awards 2022 application form. There is a small application fee, no table fees, and no travel and accommodation required.   

Entries are only accepted until June 17th so remember to get your application in before then.   

For more information about the awards, our Media Kit, to download an application form or contact us, visit awards.uctoday.com.    

Good luck!