How to write an engineering award entry that answers the judges
Judges read many entries in a short time. The ones that score well make it easy to find the answers to the criteria. This is a structure that works for most engineering and construction awards.
1. Read the criteria and the limits first
Each program publishes what it scores and how long the entry may be. ACEC's national program, for example, allows a one-page executive summary, a six-page project description, and a 100 to 500 word summary section, according to its 2027 call for entries. Write to the limits you are given.
2. Open with the problem and the owner's goals
Say what was wrong before the project, with facts: closures, failures, complaints, flood events. Then list the owner's top three or four goals. The rest of the entry shows how each goal was met.
3. Name the hard parts
Poor soils, a high water table, an occupied building, tight right-of-way, schedule mandates. Judges reward teams that solved difficult constraints, so state each one and what you did about it.
4. Make the innovation specific
Describe the one thing that was different about your approach and what it saved, in dollars, days, materials or emissions. Say how you know. "Reduced excavation by 18 percent versus the baseline design" beats "innovative design."
5. Put a source behind every number
If a figure has no source, cut it or find one. Completion letters, pay applications, test reports and owner logs all work. An unsupported number costs more credibility than it adds.
6. Show results since completion
A storm event, test results, usage counts, or the owner's measured outcomes, with dates. This is the proof that it works.
7. Close with the client
A short quote from the owner, with their name and title, and their approval to use it. The owner should write and sign any support letter on their own letterhead.
8. Edit for judges, not for colleagues
Spell out acronyms, lead each paragraph with its point, and check every claim against your source. Have someone outside the project read it.