Why you should enter the National Lottery Awards, from this years runner up

Rhythmix was a finalist in the National Lottery Awards 2016, but we didn’t win the award. Miriam, our Campaigns Manager, reflects on why as a Youth Music funded organisation you should nominate yourself for an award next year, and why winning isn’t everything.

Now the show has aired, and the dust has settled, we wanted to reflect on why we were thrilled to have been a National Lottery Award finalist this year. We may have came second, but we feel we won a whole new set of knowledge.

You nominate your organisation for a National Lottery which following a shortlisting panel are open to a public vote to choose the winners. Any organisation that has received funding from the Lottery can be nominated. This includes Youth Music funded project as they award funds from the National Lottery. The winner receives £3000 and an appearance on the BBC One awards show.

On the shortlist for the Arts section were organisations of all shapes and sizes. The quality of projects was the focus of every shortlisted group, instead of flashy websites or massive household names. The quality and impact of the work was the unifying characteristic of all projects in our category. So, if you are an organisation without big patrons or legions of supporters, but know what you do is transforming your community, don't be put off applying. Your work will speak for itself to judges.

On the topic of supporters, we found that the awards were a great opportunity to get existing supporters excited and talking about why they support our work. We told our latest fundraisers that we were nominated ahead of launch, so they could really help us out and feel a part of the team working on it. They became advocates on the same level as some of our staff, and went above and beyond what we expected of them to get the vote out. By being upfront, honest and open to discuss ideas with our supporters, we were ecstatic to receive such kindness from people that had already helped us by fundraising. The National Lottery Awards are an excellent, nonfinancial, chance for supporters to contribute to your organisation.

The press and social media buzz we received locally because of the vote has also been brilliant in raising awareness of our work and its impact. Our main message, Music Transforms Lives, came first in priority to the message to vote. This was because we knew this would likely be the most press we’ve had for years, and letting people know that what we do matters is on par with winning a national award. So whilst we didn't win, we gained a lot of people learning about our work and its impact. This will hopefully help us out in the future greatly. If your organisation is ready to get stuck in with press and social media, the national awards are a great chance to hone your message and get it out to a larger number of people than ever before.

Personally in my role, this was a great chance to test out all the different skills I’d been working on. I got to do social media, writing, press work, graphic design, supporter engagement, monitoring and reporting, team support, SEO, web design, email marketing, and a lot of coffee making. Seeing supporters engage with the content I was producing on a new level was incredible. Having a campaign to try out all my skills really let me learn where my strengths and weaknesses are. Hopefully this will help me get better at my job, and let me make sure that when something like this hits Rhythmix next we are ready to excel in our campaigning.

The national lottery awards energised our team, our supporters, and myself as an individual. If your organisation is looking for a challenge and want to tell the country that your work deserves their vote, keep your eyes on http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards for when the 2017 awards open.