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Looking for the best awards management software in 2023? We compared dozens of platforms and selected the top 10 potentially worth your time. Plus, we've prepared some extremely useful tips on what to look for when choosing your awards management platform. Have a look!
Maybe you’ve seen your competitor use an awards management system and want to check what it can do for you. Or you just want to find one for your awards since organizing them takes too much of your time. Either way, you might not be fully aware of WHAT and WHY you should be looking for. Let’s start with possibly the simplest explanation you’ll find online.
Awards management software is a cloud-based platform that helps you manage your awards faster, more simply, and more smoothly. You create and manage your program entirely online: collect and handle entries, set and monitor the judging process, and release results.
Here’s the process visualized:
Ok, that's a no-brainer — it’s the purpose of any software. That said, the amount of time awards management software saves you is truly impressive. With Evalato, for instance, you can save 70% - 80% staff time on average. Now that’s what we’re talking about.
“Using Evalato has saved a considerable amount of staff time [70% staff time saved] which has greatly increased our ability to provide better quality and more frequent awards programs.’’, Garrett Mickley, AIBD Communications DirectorRead AIBD, says in his case study.
It’s like living in a smart home — you can automate all tedious tasks. Awards management software streamlines your workflow, empowers, and simplifies the evaluation process, automates repetitive tasks, and helps you manage everything with a click of the mouse. Yes, managing applications could be that easy!
With saving time being the purpose, you want a solution that won’t require too much time and effort spent on setting it up. Especially if you are a first-time user of this type of solution, you will benefit from an awards management system that offers some type of program with pre-configured settings so that you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch.
Every good awards management software has the function of automating your communication with judges and applicants. That's a huge time saver and reduces immensely the risk of miscommunication. The other important thing is that the system calculates the evaluation results for you, so it eliminates the element of human error.
First and foremost, an awards management platform removes the lengthy and tiring administrative processes so that you can focus on growth. Second, top solutions include analytic tools where you can measure results and act accordingly. They also have integrations with Google Analytics, Hubspot, Zapier, or other tools so that you can collect data, track conversions, and streamline all your processes. Some even offer sales tools to boost the number of entries and payments you receive.
If you are good at your job, you know that happy applicants and judges are key to a successful awards competition. A good awards management solution makes their participation smooth as butter as well. It’s that simple.
Here are the essential features you should be looking for: 🕵
The more you can customize, the better. You need to be able to customize the style and colors of your webpage/registration form, the currency, language, forms, program URL, and anything else you deem important.
Most solutions provide the option to easily create a webpage for your awards. Other solutions like Evalato go the extra mile and also offer the option to embed your awards registration form directly into your website. If you have a stellar website for your awards, you should definitely consider an embeddable registration form as it's the better option in terms of brand awareness, SEO, and an uninterrupted customer experience.
It’s recommended that applicants and judges have their own online space to work in. Even better if that workspace has “resume” functionality so progress can be saved and work can be restarted at any time.
An awards management system allows you to handle all applicant communication easily, including confirmation emails, application status updates, deadline reminders, judge invitations, and so on.
Obviously, that’s a key feature for any awards management system. The most popular voting types are score, popularity, simple review, points, positional voting, as well as the option for a single transferrable vote. Public voting is a must if you want to boost your awards visibility. Don't settle with a platform that offers anything less.
If you want to skyrocket your numbers, make sure the platform you choose has analytic tools and can integrate with Google Analytics or other solutions you use. That way you can make data-based decisions and grow both your awards and your business. Now that you know the features any software for managing awards needs to have to get the job done, let's have a look at our top 10 picks in 2023. Note that this is not a ranking and the software solutions are listed in no particular order.👇🤩
Evalato is one of the leading solutions on the market due to its unrivaled customizability, ease of use, flexibility, and robust set of features. It is designed to make awards management a breeze, streamline all your processes, and help programs grow exponentially. Unlike most similar solutions, Evalato offers an embeddable registration form for your website along with the standard option for creating an awards webpage. Evalato also provides you with tools to boost the number of award entries you receive. Another distinctive advantage of the platform is that it offers unlimited free testing — you can simply sign up and test it, no strings attached.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Unlimited free testing; exceptional UX; embeddable registration form and flexible sales tools that go with it; score normalization; pre-configured customizable templates;
Cons: Doesn't have a free plan
Price:
Specifically created for grants, scholarships, and similar programs, SurveyMonkey acquired Fluidreview (another awards management platform) a few years ago. It offers lots of features tailored to grantmakers. They also offer free implementation services. To see how much the solution will cost you, however, you’ll need to ask for a quote. They don’t offer a free trial.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Free implementation services;
Cons: No free trial; no free plan
Price: Custom quote only; *Last pricing data update: March 2023; source: SurveyMonkey Apply official website
Judgify has been around for quite a while. It is currently the only software on the market that offers a free plan, but it is extremely limited in features and volumes.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Free plan available
Cons: Lots of limitations in the Free and Pro plans
Price:
*Last pricing data update: March 2023; source: Judgify official website
OpenWater is one of the oldest awards management solutions on the market. It is suitable mainly for big organizations since it doesn’t have small-budget pricing options. OpenWater also offers a virtual conference platform. There is no free trial. .
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Mobile app for events
Cons: Unclear pricing(the starting price (source Capterra) seems high for small organizations); no free trial
Price: Unclear pricing; according to data on Capterra, prices start from. $5900.
*Last pricing data update: March2023; source: OpenWater profile on Capterra, Open Water official website
Founded back in 2008 Wizehive (Zengine) is a solution designed specifically to run grants, scholarships, fellowships, internships, HR, and similar awards programs. It provides robust functionalities and some useful grant-specific features. They, however, don’t disclose their pricing and you need a quote to see how much it would cost. There’s no free trial.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Grant-specific features
Cons: Unclear pricing; no free trial;
Price: By quote only;
*Last pricing data update: March 2023; source: Wizehive official website
Submittable is one of the most popular solutions out there with a special focus on impact and CSR programs, grants, and scholarships. Its pricing is by quote only so you'll need to talk to a sales rep to see how much it would cost you.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Grant-specific features available;
Cons: Price available by quote only; starts from $10,000 (source: Capterra)
Price: Submittable offers three plans but the price is available by quote only.
*Last pricing data update: March 2023; source: Submittable official website
AwardForce is a well-known awards management solution. No free trial is available, so if you want to see how the platform works, you need to request a pre-recorded demo (your email is required) or book a call with a sales representative.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Gallery-view feature available
Cons: No free trial; no free plans;
Price: Tiered pricing
*Last pricing data update - March 2023; source: AwardForce official website
AwardStage is designed mainly for awards competitions and abstracts, and has a ticketing functionality which is great if you have a large awards ceremony with lots of visitors and need a ticketing solution as well. AwardStage doesn’t have a free trial version so you’d need a demo to see how it works.
Capterra rating: No reviews available as of March 2023
Pros: Ticketing feature
Cons: No free trial; no free plan
Price: Feature-based annual plans:
*Last pricing data update - March2023; source: AwardStage official website
Reviewer is another well-known solution for awards management. The platform provides a lot of demo options and explainer videos.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: Option to import data
Cons: Unclear pricing, no free plan
Price: Tiered pricing: feature-based annual plans. Pricing is by custom quote only.
*Last pricing data update — March 2023; source: Reviewr official website
Submit.com is another submission management solution that has been around for a while. Free testing is not available so you need to schedule a demo to see how the product works.
Source: Capterra; last update: March 2023
Pros: API
Cons: No free trial
Price: By quote only; starting price: €3500/year
**Last pricing data update: March 2023; source: Submit.com profile on Capterra
Yes, we’re kind of biased here, you are reading this on our website after all, but we feel that our reasons are quite sound. The award management platform Evalato is pretty much one of the easiest to use while still offering a robust set of features, and is super flexible for organizations of any type and size. Our customers say it best:
The platform has also received lots of accolades for being a top awards management solution. Here are the latest ones:
And if these reasons are not enough for you, you’re welcome to try Evalato for free - our test mode allows you to see how everything works before making a decision.
