Elevating Executive Education with Award-Winning Strategies - an ALG Thrive & Lead Webinar
External awards are an often overlooked recognition strategy for executive education providers. In ALG’s first “Thrive & Lead” series webinar, industry expert Deb Arnold shared her proven strategies for winning prestigious awards, as well as insights into what awards to apply for, what programs to focus on, and how to leverage the award experience to enhance program excellence.
This blog post summarizes key takeaways from her insightful session and provides practical tips on positioning yourself, your team, and your organization for success.
Why Awards Matter
Winning external awards is a powerful strategy for executive education providers. As Deb Arnold shared in the first installment of ALG’s “Thrive & Lead” webinar, awards bring recognition at three levels:
For the Organization:
Strengthens brand reputation.
Provides external validation.
Raises visibility.
For the Learning Team:
Increases team morale and motivation.
Enhances relationships with senior stakeholders.
Demonstrates team excellence.
For Individuals:
Adds "award-winning" to your personal bio, resume, and LinkedIn profile.
Boosts your personal brand and credibility as a learning leader.
Recognition can help universities and executive education providers form new partnerships with corporate clients. A shared award (provider-client win) strengthens client relationships and positions the university as a partner of choice.
An inspiring example of this concept is the Darden Executive Education website. They prominently showcase the logos of their awards, signaling to potential clients that they are industry leaders. This visibility is essential to leveraging awards for broader marketing and branding.
How to Win: Deb Arnold’s 7 Tips for Crafting Award-Winning Submissions
To succeed in award submissions, you must present a compelling and clear narrative. Deb shared seven evergreen tips to craft award-winning applications:
1. Know Your Audience
The judges are often practitioners who don't know your business.
Provide background, context, and clarity for every claim you make.
Understand the judging criteria, as this guides how submissions are scored.
2. Answer the Question
Avoid the common mistake of answering the question you want to answer instead of the one being asked.
Break multi-part questions into bullet points and respond to each part clearly.
Ask the award organizer for clarification if the question is confusing.
3. Start Early
Submissions can take 40 to 80 hours to complete.
Collect impact metrics early (e.g., ROI, cost savings, performance improvements).
Plan ahead for key deadlines and work around company events (like annual meetings) that could disrupt progress.
4. Tell a Great Story
Every winning award submission tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Begin with a clear business challenge, introduce your program as the "hero" of the story, and conclude with measurable results.
Consider an outside reviewer to ensure clarity, as it's hard to see the "frame" when you're in the "picture."
5. Keep It Simple
Use simple language (Charles Lagemann referred to this as “weekend language”).
Boil down complex points into digestible concepts.
Avoid excessive industry jargon or acronyms.
6. Be Succinct.
Keep sentences short and direct.
Express ideas in as few words as possible.
Focus on key details.
7. Use Metrics Wisely
Data-driven storytelling wins awards.
Numbers are meaningless without context. Example: "$5M in revenue" sounds good, but "$5M in revenue compared to a goal of $2.5M" is far more compelling.
Compare metrics to benchmarks, past performance, and industry standards.
Bonus tip: Leverage the Win
Winning is only part of the story. Promote the win on your website, email signatures, press releases, and internal communications.
Use the recognition to build influence with senior leaders and clients.
Add "award-winning" before the name of your program or solution to strengthen its brand.
While these seven steps are easy to understand, they can be difficult to realize, especially when the person designing the program is also completing the award application. We have a tendency, in writing up our programs, to focus on describing what we think is most important, or as Deb explained, “answering the questions we want to be asked.” To win an award, though, it is critical to understand how the judges will read and review the application and to write from that perspective.
Selecting Programs to Submit for Awards
If you want to know which of your programs is most likely to win an award, Deb suggests focusing on evaluating four core fundamentals:
1. Alignment
Is the program strategically aligned with your company’s key business goals?
Evidence of senior leader involvement (like C-Suite support) is a strong indicator of alignment.
2. Intelligence
Did the program designers conduct thoughtful research on the learner’s needs and context?
Intelligence-driven design signals that the program was thoughtfully crafted, not a “cookie-cutter” approach.
3. Innovation
Is the program innovative? Innovation can be in content, delivery, or logistics.
Examples of innovation include the use of AI, new learning methodologies, or unique facilitation approaches.
4. Impact
What were the tangible, measurable outcomes?
Impact can be shown at four levels: for learners, teams, the business, and the L&D team.
Link specific results (e.g., performance increases, revenue impact) to the program's objectives.
Strong programs in all four areas can be prioritized for award applications. Additionally, the program must run at least once for most awards. Judges want to see what you’ve demonstrated to be successful and the feedback you’ve collected.
Which Awards Should You Apply For?
One of the most common questions Deb hears is, “Which award should we apply for?” Her answer:
"The one you can win."
However, she advises considering these factors:
Difficulty: Award submissions range from relatively simple and straightforward (e.g., Brandon Hall Excellence Awards) to long and complex, with more questions that require more specific details (e.g., ATD Excellence in Practice Awards).
Win-ability: Certain awards limit the number of winners per category, e.g., Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards, while others use a score-based system where everyone who achieves a certain score can win (e.g., Brandon Hall).
Prestige: Check which companies have won in previous years. Would you be proud to have your company's name next to theirs?
Transparency: The more an award organization readily provides about how it selects winners–scoring criteria, judging rubrics, who the judges are, etc.–the easier it is to assess your chances of winning.
Specific award programs that are worth considering include:
1. Professional Group Awards
ATD Excellence in Practice Awards: Recognizes learning and development initiatives with strong strategic alignment.
EFMD Excellence in Practice Awards: Focuses on impactful and innovative learning and development programs, particularly for executive education.
2. Industry Publication Awards
Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards: Includes a category for executive education and recognizes outstanding partnerships between corporate clients and providers.
3. Research Firms
Brandon Hall HCM Excellence Awards: Offers categories for Best Executive Education Program and allows for co-submissions with corporate clients.
Brandon Hall EdTech Excellence Awards: Executive education providers may apply alone or with clients.
Closing Thoughts: Recognition as a Long-Term Strategy
Winning awards require consistent, intentional effort. But the payoff is worth it. The time needed to write up a program in an award application directly supports best practices including clear goals and clear measurements.
Deb’s key parting advice? Once you win an award, don’t be afraid to “spin” your achievements. This is about showcasing your impact clearly and confidently. Learning and executive education professionals are naturally humble, but to win, you have to tell your story with pride.
Want to win your next big award? Apply Deb Arnold’s proven frameworks, and start your journey toward industry recognition today. For questions, please feel free to reach out to Deb directly at deb@debarnoldink.com or via LinkedIn.