Why we should all enter awards
Why we should all enter awards
And how to make ourselves stand out from the crowd when we do
In our Guest Voices slot, we’re on the look out for diverse and different takes, advice, tips and projects. If you have an interesting (and practical) idea there is a Google form for your pitches here.
This guest newsletter is from Kate Samuelson, editor-in-chief at The Know and co-founder of the Cheapskate London newsletter spills the beans on how to make yourself stand out when entering awards and the difference it made when she finally won. You can connect with Kate on Twitter through @KateSamuelson and @Cheapskate_Ldn
Entering awards: Just go for it!
Throughout my life, I’ve tended to be much more of an award-losing than award-winning person. From school sports days to employee of the month contests, I’ve often received nods for my participation but never come out tops. So bearing this in mind, I never expected to win the Georgina Henry Award for Digital Innovation last December.
The annual award, set up in memory of The Guardian’s late deputy editor, Georgina Henry, is supported by Women in Journalism in partnership with the media and tech-focused law firm Wiggin. Candidates must demonstrate evidence of innovation or impact, as well as a flair for storytelling and understanding of a specific subject. Previous winners have included Jem Collins (founder of Journo Resources) and Laura Bates (founder of the Everyday Sexism Project).
I applied for the award unsuccessfully twice, in 2020 and 2021, for my work founding and editing Cheapskate London – a newsletter platform I set up in 2019 with the aim of making London’s incredible, but often unaffordable, cultural scene available to everyone, no matter their income.
Now, nearly four years later, Cheapskate London boasts a weekly subscriber base of around 10,000 people who receive a carefully curated email each Monday highlighting the best free events happening that week. From film screenings and live music to workshops, exhibitions, and one-of-a-kind experiences, we aim to offer something for everyone. We also have a weekly free-to-enter competition, exclusive discount codes and a blog series featuring interviews with influential Londoners on how to make the most of the city without spending a penny.
This whole project is something my business partner, Georgia, and I manage in our spare time, around full time jobs (I am editor-in-chief at The Know, the daily newsletter aiming to improve people’s relationships with current affairs, while Georgia works for Bumble). As I imagine many readers of this newsletter will understand, having a side hustle can be incredibly exhausting and unrewarding a lot of the time. While I’ve loved seeing the newsletter grow and hearing from subscribers about the impact it’s had on their lives, there have been many times where I’ve felt tempted to give up on the project altogether, particularly when my day job has been overwhelmingly busy.
Although people say third time’s a charm, I still went into a state of shock in November when I found an email from Women in Journalism in my spam folder saying that I’d been shortlisted for the award. I was invited to attend the British Press Awards on 15 December at the glitzy Hilton hotel on Park Lane – an incredible opportunity to network and spread the word about Cheapskate, whatever the result.
Three weeks later, I found myself unable to believe my ears when I heard Jeremy Vine declaring Cheapskate the winner. He described me as having a “proven track record with a long-running project, which perfectly understands its audience and has a slick and vibrant execution”. After devoting four years of relentless effort for little financial gain, it felt surreal – and amazing – to have my project acknowledged in this way.
I think there are three main reasons my application stood out. Firstly, I know the judges were impressed by the fact that I have been working on Cheapskate for almost four years, demonstrating my true commitment to the concept.
Secondly, I was able to very clearly show what I’d spend the £4,000 prize money on (investing in targeted digital marketing and SEO, plus a year of MailChimp – a superior newsletter platform to the one we currently use).
Thirdly, I think the cost-of-living crisis – and the fact that Cheapskate is directly supporting Londoners who are impacted by it – helped give my application a timely feel, which in turn helped separate it from the rest. As Jeremy Vine said at the ceremony, Cheapskate has great potential to bring joy during the current crisis and I believe this sentiment resonated with the judges who recognised the importance of supporting a financially mindful project at this time.
Since winning the award, we have gained hundreds of new subscribers, received some lovely press coverage and generally felt a huge boost in motivation and determination to make Cheapskate a success. We’re also about to spend £1,000 on Instagram and Facebook ads, which is something I feel both excited and terrified about as it will be the first time we’ve ever done any paid advertising.
If you’re thinking of applying for the Georgina Henry Award this year then I’d definitely say go for it – it’s free, plus the application process is fairly simple; unless they change the format, it’s just a couple of questions about your project, why it’s necessary, your adaptability, the stage you’re at with it and where you want to go next. As a former winner (it still feels odd to write that!) I’d be very happy to answer any questions you might have: hello@cheapskatelondon.com.
If that has tempted you to get entering then look no further than the inaugural Freelance Journalism Awards 2023.
This first awards scheme to celebrate the work of freelance journalists based in the UK and the deadline for entries is midnight April 26th. Once all of the entries are received they will be shortlisted and then a winner will be decided by a panel of industry judges (all freelance journalists / editors of course) before being announced via this newsletter and our social media channels on June 7th.
Thanks to our sponsors there will be a £100 prize for each category winner (plus a goody bag) as well as a trophy and an invitation onto our podcast for a special awards series.
There are seven categories and you can read more about how it works in last week’s newsletter. We want to celebrate your hard work so what are you waiting for!
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Triumph of the week
Getting a well paying commission on the one day of the Easter holidays you actually have time to say yes
That feeling when
You were expecting a ton of edits and queries on a feature and there were barely any
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Bye for now!
