FAQs

What does Boost do?

We get asked this a lot – and it’s because we’re quite unusual! Simply put, we’re a company that helps businesses to enter and win awards. We are unaffiliated with any awards organiser although sometimes we sponsor award categories or allow awards to advertise with us. We’ve lots of experience in entering hundreds of different awards across all sectors. Entering awards is our day job, and with 16 years’ experience and a dedicated team of writers, impact evaluation specialists and other support staff, we bring a unique combination of expertise and skills to help maximise your chances of winning.

How much do you charge?

Awards can vary tremendously in terms of what’s involved in the entry process and how much support you need from us, so, therefore, we price each award entry on a project-by-project basis. Things taken into account when quoting include:

  • The level of support you require from us (it could be writing the whole submission from scratch, including design work, or just sense checking your draft).
  • The awards being entered (some require a great deal of content and supporting evidence while others may be just a few hundred words).
  • The number of stages involved in the entry process (some awards ask for a written entry only, others may have multiple stages – for example, a presentation).
  • How much content is recycled from other entries (sometimes we can reuse content to enter other awards or categories).

Once we’ve provided a quote and if you’re happy, as long as the scope stays the same, we won’t charge more. There are no hidden extras and no surprise invoices; the only additional thing we would charge for are external expenses which are charged at cost.

To enquire about pricing for a potential awards project, please get in touch.

How much notice do you need?

We understand that awards aren’t always your priority, and often a deadline can creep up, leaving you with little time to put together an entry. Therefore, we’re well used to resourcing projects at short notice. However, a better way to manage your awards plan, is to leave the planning to us – let us manage your awards strategy, and you’ll never miss a deadline.

Do you help people get personal honours & King's honours?

No. We never help individuals self-nominate for honours schemes like MBEs, CBEs, Peerages etc. These schemes do not welcome self-nomination, so from an ethical standpoint, we have chosen not to be involved in any way with such activity. The Cabinet Office specifically states that it ‘does not endorse the use of fee-charging drafting services’. We, therefore, respect this.

Isn’t it just the big companies that win awards?

We cannot stress enough how wrong this common assumption is. Many of the most prolific winners of national awards that we know are small to medium-sized enterprises.

 

Will you be honest about our chances of winning?

We pride ourselves on our honesty and ethics and like to be transparent about when we aren’t fully confident that an entry will be successful. There are a few reasons why this can sometimes be the case:

  • It’s simply too early to really see the impact of an initiative – enough to impress the judges. We often advise companies to wait and try again next year.
  • There’s a condition of entry in the small print that isn’t met (for example, if the end date of a project has to be within a specified timeframe).
  • The evidence of achievement is impossible to find, no matter how hard we search.
  • The evidence, when uncovered, actually proves that the programme was not outstanding after all.

N.B. If during the process of writing an entry, it’s discovered there’s a strong case for pulling it, we reserve the right to charge for time already invested. We believe it’s better to be honest in order to save further time, money and possibly disappointment.

Who enters the submission? You or us?

Unfortunately, due to legal reasons (liabilities associated with the disclosing of sensitive client information to a third party, and the fact that terms and conditions need to be accepted by the entrant), we cannot submit, or pay for, entries on your behalf. However, we will provide you with all the guidance you need to help you do so, and our Project Co-ordinators are always on hand should you have any problems or queries.

Do we need to sign a non-disclosure agreement?

We regularly sign non-disclosure agreements with clients and are always happy to do so. Whether we sign one or not, we will treat all information provided as confidential and won’t share it outside the Boost team. We also won’t publish the fact that we work with you on our website or in marketing communications of any sort without your permission.

What happens if another company asks you to write a competing submission?

We don’t write competing submissions for single-winner awards categories. Some awards, like the King’s Award for Enterprise, feature multiple winners in each category. We’re happy to write multiple submissions for the same category for awards like these. When awards have regional and national phases, this policy applies on a regional basis only.

I run awards but can't see them in your list?

No problem, it’s easy to add your award here – we can also do further promotion for a small cost. Our awards database is continually growing as new awards are launched throughout the year. We try to be as accurate as possible, but, obviously, with thousands of awards and a wide variation in entry formats and dates, we advise visiting the awards website for the latest information. If you do spot anything that needs updating, please feel free to get in touch and let us know.

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