Mastering the Art of Award Submissions for Destination Marketing Excellence
Fáilte Ireland's Kathrin Chambers explains how strategic award submissions build team morale and secure funding by telling compelling transformation stories backed by meaningful metrics and data.
A Strategic Guide from Fáilte Ireland's Award-Winning Digital Team
Following the Digital Tourism Think Tank's LinkedIn Live conversation with Kathrin Chambers, Digital Marketing Manager at Fáilte Ireland
In an industry where budgets are scrutinised and the demand to prove value intensifies annually, recognition of excellence has never mattered more. Yet, many DMOs approach awards submissions as an afterthought, squeezing entries into the final days before a deadline. This approach undermines submission quality and misses the strategic value that awards deliver far beyond the trophy itself.
During a recent LinkedIn Live conversation hosted by Digital Tourism Think Tank CEO & Founder, Nick Hall, Kathrin Chambers from Fáilte Ireland offered rare insights into what truly makes an award-winning submission. As Digital Marketing Manager at an organisation recognised by the X. Awards and other industry accolades, Kathrin understands both the craft of exceptional destination marketing and how to communicate effectively.
The Strategic Case for Pursuing Recognition
The rationale for pursuing awards goes beyond vanity metrics. For Kathrin and her team at Fáilte Ireland, the value operates on two critical dimensions.
"The biggest impact for awards is recognition of our work", Kathrin explained. "It gives the team a lift because we've worked really hard, particularly over the last five years, through a big transformation. Getting that external validation that what we're doing is good has been really important for morale and confidence".
This internal dimension proves crucial. Destination marketing teams often labour on complex technical projects whose impact remains invisible to broader stakeholders. A CMS migration or data architecture overhaul lacks the immediate visibility of a stunning campaign creative, yet these foundational projects often deliver more substantial long-term value. Awards make this behind-the-scenes work visible.
The external dimension proves equally valuable in a climate where many DMOs face existential questions about funding and relevance. As Nick observed, "We seem to be in a climate where a lot of DMOs are facing challenges; financial, budgetary, maybe even going through restructuring. What is really important in these difficult situations is being able to say: We are making an impact. The work we do is not only essential, but we're amongst the best who do this".
For Kathrin, this external validation has proved instrumental in securing continued support. "It's been very useful when you're talking to the board, when you're talking to your CFO about getting more investment or getting more support or approvals for budget on an annual basis". When confronted with digital transformation investment requests, industry recognition provides powerful ammunition for business cases.
The Anatomy of Award-Worthy Work
Understanding what characteristics make a project genuinely worthy of recognition matters before considering how to write about it. Kathrin identified several common threads across Fáilte Ireland's successful submissions.
Award-winning projects begin with clear problems demanding solutions. For Fáilte Ireland's email marketing transformation, the challenge was stark. "We had an open rate of 2% and a click-through rate of 0.03%", Kathrin revealed. "Those numbers were so bad that it was almost embarrassing to put them in an award submission, but they were the reality of where we started". This candour about starting points proves essential. Juries evaluate transformation and improvement, not just absolute performance. A project moving metrics from bad to average demonstrates more capability than one maintaining excellence through minor optimisation.
Fáilte Ireland's solution combined technological investment with strategic rethinking. Moving to Braze enabled granular segmentation, but the real transformation came from fundamentally reimagining email as personalised recommendations rather than broadcast communications. The results validated this investment: open rates increased to 25%, click-through rates reached 2.5% and now generate 70% of all traffic to Discover Ireland. These outcomes demonstrate strategic thinking about how specific channels integrate within broader digital ecosystems.
Projects that pioneer new approaches also naturally attract jury attention. Fáilte Ireland's AI-powered translation exemplifies this. Rather than simply deploying off-the-shelf tools, they developed an approach to maintaining brand voice and terminology consistency across languages. As Kathrin noted, "It's not just about having the technology. It's about how you implement it, how you govern it, how you ensure quality whilst gaining efficiency".
Similarly, their "Car-Free Carefree" campaign demonstrated partnership value. Working with Kearney's Pub in Dublin, they created a programme allowing international visitors to surrender rental car keys in exchange for curated itineraries showcasing public transport accessibility. The campaign addressed genuine visitor pain points around driving anxiety whilst demonstrating Ireland's commitment to sustainable tourism. These multi-dimensional benefits make particularly compelling award narratives.
Common Pitfalls That Undermine Submissions
Understanding what makes work award-worthy matters little if the submission fails to communicate effectively. Kathrin identified several recurring mistakes that diminish otherwise excellent projects, each revealing how easily strong work can be undersold through poor presentation.
The most common error involves overwhelming juries with metrics without narrative context. "You can't just give them numbers and expect them to understand what those numbers mean", Kathrin cautioned. "You need to tell the story of what those numbers represent, why they matter and what impact they've delivered". This requires selecting metrics strategically rather than comprehensively. A focused narrative built around three or four key indicators proves far more powerful than sprawling dashboards that obscure impact. The question is not what data you have, but what specific outcomes demonstrate your project's value.
Equally problematic is insufficient context setting. Juries evaluating submissions across multiple destinations lack intimate knowledge of each market's unique constraints and competitive dynamics. "What seems obvious to you is not obvious to a jury who doesn't know your market", Kathrin explained. "You need to explain why what you did was difficult, why it was innovative for your context, why the results matter given your starting point". A website redesign navigating complex governmental procurement processes deserves credit for that navigation, but only if the submission explicitly articulates those barriers.
Language choices also matter significantly. Award submissions benefit from direct, active language that clearly establishes agency. "Don't be shy about saying: We did this. We achieved that", Kathrin advised. "The jury wants to understand what your team specifically contributed". Passive constructions like "a strategy was developed" create distance between the submitting team and the outcomes achieved. Similarly, abstract language about "enhancing engagement" lacks the specificity that makes impact tangible. Concrete details bring projects to life in ways that general statements cannot.
Perhaps most critically, technical achievement means little without demonstrable impact. "Always ask yourself, so what?", Kathrin suggested. "You implemented a new CMS. So what? You introduced personalisation. So what? Keep asking that question until you get to the outcome that actually matters to your organisation and your visitors". A submission might detail a complex implementation of personalisation technology, but unless it connects that implementation to visitor outcomes, business results or strategic objectives, the jury lacks grounds for recognising its value.
Crafting Submissions That Resonate
With an understanding of what makes work award-worthy and awareness of common pitfalls, the practical work of crafting compelling submissions begins. Kathrin offered several principles that have served Fáilte Ireland well across their multiple successful entries.
Rather than beginning with award criteria and retrofitting your project to requirements, start by articulating your narrative. What problem existed? Why did it matter? What solution did you develop? How did you implement it? What results did you achieve? Once this core narrative exists in clear, compelling form, mapping it to specific award criteria becomes straightforward. "The story is what makes your submission memorable", Kathrin emphasised. "Juries read dozens of entries. The ones that stick are the ones where they think: That is really interesting. That is a genuine story of transformation". This approach ensures submissions read as coherent stories and not just responses to a checklist.
Whilst metrics provide essential evidence, qualitative information often proves more persuasive. User testimonials and stakeholder feedback bring projects to life in ways that numbers alone cannot. "When someone writes to tell you that the personalised recommendations helped them discover somewhere amazing, that is powerful", Kathrin noted. "That single testimonial can communicate value in a way that click-through rates can't quite capture". The balance between qualitative and quantitative evidence will vary by project type, but recognising that both forms serve important purposes strengthens any submission.
Surprisingly, acknowledging difficulties can even strengthen submissions. Juries understand that transformation rarely proceeds smoothly and projects that honestly discuss the challenges overcome demonstrate resilience and problem-solving capability. "Don't pretend everything went perfectly", Kathrin advised. "If you had to pivot your approach, explain why and what you learned. If initial results disappointed before you identified the solution, that makes your eventual success more impressive". This honesty also serves practical purposes, as other DMOs reading award case studies benefit far more from submissions that discuss what did not work, alongside what did.
Perhaps the most important practical advice concerns the timeline. "Don't wait until the 29th of October", Kathrin urged. "If you're going to do a submission, start thinking about it now. It takes time to do it". Quality submissions require gathering data, securing approvals, coordinating across contributors and synthesising complex initiatives into coherent narratives. These activities cannot be compressed into frantic days. Moreover, the process of crafting a submission often reveals insights about the project itself. Rushed work fails to do justice to the project described. "It takes thinking, it takes honing the story to allow your project to shine for what it really is", Kathrin noted. "If you do it in haste, you're going to miss something".
The Value Beyond Winning
The benefits of pursuing awards extend beyond the trophy itself, delivering value regardless of outcomes. This is because the process of preparing submissions themselves creates lasting knowledge that serves organisations well through pinpointing both successes and failures.
Documenting project details, gathering metrics and synthesising lessons learned ensures time for valuable reflection. In organisations where team members move between roles or where projects span multiple years, these comprehensive project narratives become important references. "We go back to previous award submissions when we're planning new work", Kathrin revealed. "They provide a really useful record of what we did, why we made particular choices and what we learned. That is valuable even if you don't win anything". This documentation proves particularly useful when onboarding new team members or explaining strategic decisions to stakeholders unfamiliar with project history.
The submission process naturally brings together diverse contributors to reflect on shared accomplishments, building team cohesion whilst providing an opportunity to celebrate work that daily operational demands may have pushed aside. Moreover, simply being shortlisted provides a significant morale boost. In award programmes with rigorous judging standards, making the final group of nominees demonstrates excellence, even if the ultimate victory proves elusive. Teams should celebrate this achievement rather than viewing anything short of winning as failure, recognising that the shortlist itself validates quality work.
Awards ceremonies create valuable networking opportunities where destination marketing leaders exchange insights and expand their professional networks. As Kathrin observed, "The thing with awards is you always learn what somebody else has done. Every day is a school day". This knowledge exchange benefits the entire sector, helping DMOs learn from each other's successes and challenges whilst building the collective capability of destination marketing as a discipline. Awards should never become the primary driver of strategy. The pursuit of accolades for their own sake distorts priorities and misdirects effort. However, when organisations are genuinely doing exceptional work that advances the industry, solves meaningful problems and delivers measurable value, seeking recognition serves important purposes.
The X. Awards 2025: An Opportunity for Recognition
With submissions closing on 31st October 2025, DMOs have a finite window to document their most significant achievements.
The X. Awards, presented alongside Future. Destination. Brand. in Barcelona on 3rd December, offers five categories: Transformation, Partnership, Digital Impact, Purposeful Brand and Startup Innovation. This focused structure ensures that recognition in any category carries substantial weight. The People's Choice Award also brings an additional opportunity for public validation, with each submission automatically entered, providing an opportunity to tap into existing networks and further the visibility of the successful initiatives nominated.
As Nick noted, "The competition is really high. This means if you're successful in being shortlisted as a runner-up or even a winner, this is a really huge credit for the work you're doing".
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A Strategic Guide from Fáilte Ireland's Award-Winning Digital Team
Following the Digital Tourism Think Tank's LinkedIn Live conversation with Kathrin Chambers, Digital Marketing Manager at Fáilte Ireland
In an industry where budgets are scrutinised and the demand to prove value intensifies annually, recognition of excellence has never mattered more. Yet, many DMOs approach awards submissions as an afterthought, squeezing entries into the final days before a deadline. This approach undermines submission quality and misses the strategic value that awards deliver far beyond the trophy itself.
During a recent LinkedIn Live conversation hosted by Digital Tourism Think Tank CEO & Founder, Nick Hall, Kathrin Chambers from Fáilte Ireland offered rare insights into what truly makes an award-winning submission. As Digital Marketing Manager at an organisation recognised by the X. Awards and other industry accolades, Kathrin understands both the craft of exceptional destination marketing and how to communicate effectively.
The Strategic Case for Pursuing Recognition
The rationale for pursuing awards goes beyond vanity metrics. For Kathrin and her team at Fáilte Ireland, the value operates on two critical dimensions.
"The biggest impact for awards is recognition of our work", Kathrin explained. "It gives the team a lift because we've worked really hard, particularly over the last five years, through a big transformation. Getting that external validation that what we're doing is good has been really important for morale and confidence".
This internal dimension proves crucial. Destination marketing teams often labour on complex technical projects whose impact remains invisible to broader stakeholders. A CMS migration or data architecture overhaul lacks the immediate visibility of a stunning campaign creative, yet these foundational projects often deliver more substantial long-term value. Awards make this behind-the-scenes work visible.
The external dimension proves equally valuable in a climate where many DMOs face existential questions about funding and relevance. As Nick observed, "We seem to be in a climate where a lot of DMOs are facing challenges; financial, budgetary, maybe even going through restructuring. What is really important in these difficult situations is being able to say: We are making an impact. The work we do is not only essential, but we're amongst the best who do this".
For Kathrin, this external validation has proved instrumental in securing continued support. "It's been very useful when you're talking to the board, when you're talking to your CFO about getting more investment or getting more support or approvals for budget on an annual basis". When confronted with digital transformation investment requests, industry recognition provides powerful ammunition for business cases.
The Anatomy of Award-Worthy Work
Understanding what characteristics make a project genuinely worthy of recognition matters before considering how to write about it. Kathrin identified several common threads across Fáilte Ireland's successful submissions.
Award-winning projects begin with clear problems demanding solutions. For Fáilte Ireland's email marketing transformation, the challenge was stark. "We had an open rate of 2% and a click-through rate of 0.03%", Kathrin revealed. "Those numbers were so bad that it was almost embarrassing to put them in an award submission, but they were the reality of where we started". This candour about starting points proves essential. Juries evaluate transformation and improvement, not just absolute performance. A project moving metrics from bad to average demonstrates more capability than one maintaining excellence through minor optimisation.
Fáilte Ireland's solution combined technological investment with strategic rethinking. Moving to Braze enabled granular segmentation, but the real transformation came from fundamentally reimagining email as personalised recommendations rather than broadcast communications. The results validated this investment: open rates increased to 25%, click-through rates reached 2.5% and now generate 70% of all traffic to Discover Ireland. These outcomes demonstrate strategic thinking about how specific channels integrate within broader digital ecosystems.
Projects that pioneer new approaches also naturally attract jury attention. Fáilte Ireland's AI-powered translation exemplifies this. Rather than simply deploying off-the-shelf tools, they developed an approach to maintaining brand voice and terminology consistency across languages. As Kathrin noted, "It's not just about having the technology. It's about how you implement it, how you govern it, how you ensure quality whilst gaining efficiency".
Similarly, their "Car-Free Carefree" campaign demonstrated partnership value. Working with Kearney's Pub in Dublin, they created a programme allowing international visitors to surrender rental car keys in exchange for curated itineraries showcasing public transport accessibility. The campaign addressed genuine visitor pain points around driving anxiety whilst demonstrating Ireland's commitment to sustainable tourism. These multi-dimensional benefits make particularly compelling award narratives.
Common Pitfalls That Undermine Submissions
Understanding what makes work award-worthy matters little if the submission fails to communicate effectively. Kathrin identified several recurring mistakes that diminish otherwise excellent projects, each revealing how easily strong work can be undersold through poor presentation.
The most common error involves overwhelming juries with metrics without narrative context. "You can't just give them numbers and expect them to understand what those numbers mean", Kathrin cautioned. "You need to tell the story of what those numbers represent, why they matter and what impact they've delivered". This requires selecting metrics strategically rather than comprehensively. A focused narrative built around three or four key indicators proves far more powerful than sprawling dashboards that obscure impact. The question is not what data you have, but what specific outcomes demonstrate your project's value.
Equally problematic is insufficient context setting. Juries evaluating submissions across multiple destinations lack intimate knowledge of each market's unique constraints and competitive dynamics. "What seems obvious to you is not obvious to a jury who doesn't know your market", Kathrin explained. "You need to explain why what you did was difficult, why it was innovative for your context, why the results matter given your starting point". A website redesign navigating complex governmental procurement processes deserves credit for that navigation, but only if the submission explicitly articulates those barriers.
Language choices also matter significantly. Award submissions benefit from direct, active language that clearly establishes agency. "Don't be shy about saying: We did this. We achieved that", Kathrin advised. "The jury wants to understand what your team specifically contributed". Passive constructions like "a strategy was developed" create distance between the submitting team and the outcomes achieved. Similarly, abstract language about "enhancing engagement" lacks the specificity that makes impact tangible. Concrete details bring projects to life in ways that general statements cannot.
Perhaps most critically, technical achievement means little without demonstrable impact. "Always ask yourself, so what?", Kathrin suggested. "You implemented a new CMS. So what? You introduced personalisation. So what? Keep asking that question until you get to the outcome that actually matters to your organisation and your visitors". A submission might detail a complex implementation of personalisation technology, but unless it connects that implementation to visitor outcomes, business results or strategic objectives, the jury lacks grounds for recognising its value.
Crafting Submissions That Resonate
With an understanding of what makes work award-worthy and awareness of common pitfalls, the practical work of crafting compelling submissions begins. Kathrin offered several principles that have served Fáilte Ireland well across their multiple successful entries.
Rather than beginning with award criteria and retrofitting your project to requirements, start by articulating your narrative. What problem existed? Why did it matter? What solution did you develop? How did you implement it? What results did you achieve? Once this core narrative exists in clear, compelling form, mapping it to specific award criteria becomes straightforward. "The story is what makes your submission memorable", Kathrin emphasised. "Juries read dozens of entries. The ones that stick are the ones where they think: That is really interesting. That is a genuine story of transformation". This approach ensures submissions read as coherent stories and not just responses to a checklist.
Whilst metrics provide essential evidence, qualitative information often proves more persuasive. User testimonials and stakeholder feedback bring projects to life in ways that numbers alone cannot. "When someone writes to tell you that the personalised recommendations helped them discover somewhere amazing, that is powerful", Kathrin noted. "That single testimonial can communicate value in a way that click-through rates can't quite capture". The balance between qualitative and quantitative evidence will vary by project type, but recognising that both forms serve important purposes strengthens any submission.
Surprisingly, acknowledging difficulties can even strengthen submissions. Juries understand that transformation rarely proceeds smoothly and projects that honestly discuss the challenges overcome demonstrate resilience and problem-solving capability. "Don't pretend everything went perfectly", Kathrin advised. "If you had to pivot your approach, explain why and what you learned. If initial results disappointed before you identified the solution, that makes your eventual success more impressive". This honesty also serves practical purposes, as other DMOs reading award case studies benefit far more from submissions that discuss what did not work, alongside what did.
Perhaps the most important practical advice concerns the timeline. "Don't wait until the 29th of October", Kathrin urged. "If you're going to do a submission, start thinking about it now. It takes time to do it". Quality submissions require gathering data, securing approvals, coordinating across contributors and synthesising complex initiatives into coherent narratives. These activities cannot be compressed into frantic days. Moreover, the process of crafting a submission often reveals insights about the project itself. Rushed work fails to do justice to the project described. "It takes thinking, it takes honing the story to allow your project to shine for what it really is", Kathrin noted. "If you do it in haste, you're going to miss something".
The Value Beyond Winning
The benefits of pursuing awards extend beyond the trophy itself, delivering value regardless of outcomes. This is because the process of preparing submissions themselves creates lasting knowledge that serves organisations well through pinpointing both successes and failures.
Documenting project details, gathering metrics and synthesising lessons learned ensures time for valuable reflection. In organisations where team members move between roles or where projects span multiple years, these comprehensive project narratives become important references. "We go back to previous award submissions when we're planning new work", Kathrin revealed. "They provide a really useful record of what we did, why we made particular choices and what we learned. That is valuable even if you don't win anything". This documentation proves particularly useful when onboarding new team members or explaining strategic decisions to stakeholders unfamiliar with project history.
The submission process naturally brings together diverse contributors to reflect on shared accomplishments, building team cohesion whilst providing an opportunity to celebrate work that daily operational demands may have pushed aside. Moreover, simply being shortlisted provides a significant morale boost. In award programmes with rigorous judging standards, making the final group of nominees demonstrates excellence, even if the ultimate victory proves elusive. Teams should celebrate this achievement rather than viewing anything short of winning as failure, recognising that the shortlist itself validates quality work.
Awards ceremonies create valuable networking opportunities where destination marketing leaders exchange insights and expand their professional networks. As Kathrin observed, "The thing with awards is you always learn what somebody else has done. Every day is a school day". This knowledge exchange benefits the entire sector, helping DMOs learn from each other's successes and challenges whilst building the collective capability of destination marketing as a discipline. Awards should never become the primary driver of strategy. The pursuit of accolades for their own sake distorts priorities and misdirects effort. However, when organisations are genuinely doing exceptional work that advances the industry, solves meaningful problems and delivers measurable value, seeking recognition serves important purposes.
The X. Awards 2025: An Opportunity for Recognition
With submissions closing on 31st October 2025, DMOs have a finite window to document their most significant achievements.
The X. Awards, presented alongside Future. Destination. Brand. in Barcelona on 3rd December, offers five categories: Transformation, Partnership, Digital Impact, Purposeful Brand and Startup Innovation. This focused structure ensures that recognition in any category carries substantial weight. The People's Choice Award also brings an additional opportunity for public validation, with each submission automatically entered, providing an opportunity to tap into existing networks and further the visibility of the successful initiatives nominated.
As Nick noted, "The competition is really high. This means if you're successful in being shortlisted as a runner-up or even a winner, this is a really huge credit for the work you're doing".
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