Organize Your CotY Awards Submissions with this Checklist
There are less than two months to go before CotY Award submissions are due – can you believe it?! With the October 28, 2022, deadline approaching, there are a few items you’ll need to have before you start working on your presentation. NARI of Greater Chicagoland has put together this handy checklist to help organize everything so you can focus on putting together the best award submission you can.
- Client/contractor release form – you don’t have a project to show off without a client who hired you! Make sure you have your homeowner sign this form you’ve filled out, confirming your work on their home and releasing the rights to use the project information and photos
- Before/after photos – photos are the lifeblood of your CotY Award submissions! Go through your files and match up your before and after photos of the project, along with any in-progress photos that show the complexity or level of involvement of the work. Try to have your before and after photos show the project from the same angle or viewpoint to give the judges an apples-to-apples comparison of the transformation. Aim for a mix of vertical and horizontal layout photos as well, as winning images can be used in a variety of ways for promotion of the award.
- Photographer release form – speaking of photos, whoever took all the amazing photos you’re going to feature in your submission needs to complete this form, giving NARI permission to use the images as part of the overall award process
- Award submission template – figuring out how best to layout your project can be daunting, which is why we’ve made it easier than ever for you by creating a downloadable template you can buy. Professionally designed, the template was custom-made to satisfy the presentation criteria for the awards submission process. Simply choose the slides that work best for your submission and delete the rest!
Once you have these items ready to go – consider creating a folder on your computer with everything you need for each project you plan to submit – head over to the official award submission web page and you’re ready to begin. Good luck!
All of NARI of Greater Chicagoland’s Coty Awards 2023 information – including deadlines and fees, informational videos and submission tips, past winner galleries for inspiration and more – can be found on our website: https://narichicago.org/contractor-of-the-year-awards/