When Awards Become Everyone’s Job, They Become No One’s Job

1. Awards matter, but no one owns them

In agencies, awards often sit in a strange place.

Everyone agrees they matter. They build reputation. They attract talent. They help agencies prove the value of their work. They give teams visibility beyond the client relationship.

But very often, no one truly owns them.

And when no one owns awards, the process becomes wishful thinking.

2. Agency teams do not have the time

The reality is simple: agency life is intense. Teams are busy. Strategy teams are busy. Client leads are busy. Creative teams are busy. Everyone is focused on delivery, meetings, deadlines, client needs, performance, and the next urgent request.

So expecting teams to also identify the strongest cases, gather the right information, shape the story, write the entry, coordinate production, brief the case study video, and manage deadlines is often unrealistic.

Not because they do not care.

Because they do not have the time.

And awards work needs time.

3. Awards are not just a case study video

It also needs someone who understands how agencies work. Someone who can speak the language of the teams, understand the pressure they are under, and make the process easier rather than heavier.

Because awards are not just about producing a case study video.

Before you can make a strong video, you need to have done the thinking. You need the structure. You need the narrative. You need the results. You need to know what the case is really about. You need to understand what the jury will care about and how to translate a complex campaign into a simple, compelling story.

That is the work behind the work.

4. Experience matters

And this is where experience matters.

For the past 10 years, I managed awards for Havas Media Network. When I started, there was very little structure in place. Over time, I helped build the awards function across the network, supporting markets, identifying strong work, shaping case studies, and helping teams compete at regional and global festivals.

5. Finding the story inside complex work

And because this was a media network, the cases were not always the obvious ones.

They were not always big creative ideas with a simple emotional hook.

Often, they were media strategies. Data-led campaigns. Analytics projects. Audience insights. Smart planning. Complex ecosystems. Work where the story was not immediately visible and had to be found, shaped, and translated into something juries could understand and value.

That is a specific skill.

6. What agencies really need

It means knowing how to find the story inside the work. Knowing what questions to ask. Knowing who needs to be involved. Knowing how to reduce the burden on teams. Knowing how to turn scattered information into a strong awards case.

Agencies do not always need more pressure.

They need someone who can come in, understand the work, organize the process, and help the best ideas rise to the surface.

That is the role I play: helping agencies identify their strongest work, shape the story, coordinate the process, and give great ideas their best chance of being recognized.

Because awards do not happen by accident.

Someone has to take care of the work behind the work.