How to approach judges for awards & competitions

Start with strategy, not glitzy names

The temptation is to make a wishlist of famous people and start firing off emails. Don’t.

Before you approach anyone, figure out what your panel actually needs to achieve. A good judging panel creates genuine value for the people submitting to your call. The best combinations mix practicing artists or creators, organisations supporting them, and occasionally the press. If you have sponsors, consider including them – but only if they bring relevant expertise. An art buyer from a financial firm works. Their CEO who’s life-long passion is golf probably doesn’t.

Think about complementary perspectives, not just impressive CVs. Five painters will give you five similar viewpoints. A painter, a curator, a collector, an arts journalist, and a gallery director will give you depth.

It’s an easy mistake to make – but your panel composition directly determines who applies. If candidates can’t see themselves reflected in your judges, they won’t engage with you. This isn’t about tokenism; it’s about signal. A homogenous panel signals “this isn’t for people like me” louder than any marketing copy can overcome.

Start earlier than you think

Approaching judges weeks before you need them is unlikely work (and might actually give them the impression you are disorganised).

Start 3-4 months before judging begins. High-profile individuals book their calendars months in advance. Beyond that, you’ll need time for follow-ups, replacements when your first choices decline, and course corrections if you’re not hitting your diversity targets.

If judging happens in March, begin outreach in November or December (skip sending emails on religious holidays!).

Some judges who initially say yes will need to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts. Having time to find replacements means you’re not scrambling at the last minute or settling for whoever responds first.

Make your research count

Emailing recognisable people at random is not going to end well.

Spend time researching potential judges to make a genuine connection between what you’re doing and their actual interests. Ian McKellen advocates for gay rights and ageing respectfully – that’s your hook if you’re running something aligned with those causes. Generic flattery about their “impressive career” shows you don’t really understand them (and will end in spam).

Find the thread between their work and your programme’s purpose. Your panel composition should align with your programme’s core purpose. Make it specific. Make it real.

Craft your pitch (keep it brutally brief)

Anyone with status gets swamped with proposals. Respect their time from the moment you approach them.

Follow the rule of threes: a maximum of three emails, containing three paragraphs, made up of a maximum of three lines each.

That’s it. No life story. No 600-word essay about your passion for the arts. No massive preambles about “reaching out” or “hope this finds you well.” (that can be your close).

Make it personal (or don’t bother)

Never mass email judges or potential partners with generic messages. Your pitch needs to start with something that resonates personally with them.

Here’s what this looks like:

Notice what’s missing: marketing speak, unnecessary formality, vague compliments. It’s direct. It’s specific. It’s respectful of their time.

Be clear about the ask

Vagueness kills judge recruitment. Knowing your process before approaching anyone is vital.

Your introductory email needs these specifics:

• Timeline: Start and end dates for judging
• Time commitment: How many submissions they’ll review and how long it takes
• Process: What they’ll be scoring and how

Here’s how to frame it:

“We know your time is precious, so we’ve made the process as simple as possible. We’ve chosen an awards management platform that streamlines the judging process to make scoring as easy as possible. Judging should take a maximum of two hours. You’d be scoring a shortlist of 25 five-minute short films online between 1-31 March. You can dip in and out during that period – it needn’t be done in one sitting.”

The entire judging experience matters, from first contact to final scoring. Learn more about creating smooth judging workflows with our full programme guide.

What’s in it for them?

Do you have a budget, or are you asking for free help?

If you’re charging entry fees and have revenue, compensating judges appropriately shows respect for their expertise. Payment varies widely based on time commitment and judge profile. £200-500 for reviewing 2-3 hours of submissions is reasonable for emerging professionals. Established industry leaders might expect £500-2,000+ depending on your programme’s profile and reach.

If you have no budget, find creative ways to reward those who’ve given their time generously and ensure your programme is driven by a shared purpose with the judges you are approaching.

The more you demand of your judges, the more valuable what you give them should be. If you have no resources, your best option is making the time commitment as small as possible.

What you offer depends entirely on who you’re approaching. Think about what that individual would genuinely appreciate. Is it expanding their reach? Being associated with a specific cause? Discovering talent they might work with later? Doing good with their time? (Judges who’ve recently retired often value the latter.)

Offering to feature judges in blog articles and across social media appeals to some – but has no intrinsic value to those whose profile already surpasses your own. If you’re offering social media exposure as part of your value proposition, judges will want to know your actual reach. Building your audience through strategic marketing matters before you start recruiting high-profile names.

Some programmes offer judges early access to the submission pool, allowing them to discover talent they might commission or collaborate with later. Digital platforms make this feasible by providing secure, time-limited access with proper intellectual property protections for submitters.

Look credible (especially if you’re not known)

If you don’t have a recognisable brand, appearing credible becomes essential.

Include a link to your competition website or pitch deck in your email. Make sure whatever you send looks professional. Send your email from a business email address – sending from a personal Gmail account could be a red flag. Especially if it’s an address you registered as a student, like [email protected].

Other elements that build credibility:

• An offer to speak further with direct contact details (be ready to actually take that call).
• A footer including your name and position.
• A registered address.
• Company or charity registration number if you have one.
• Names of any recognisable judges you’ve already secured.

That last point matters. If you’ve already secured one respected name, leading with that in follow-up emails significantly improves your response rate.

Follow up (but don’t stalk!)

It’s highly unlikely you will get a response to your first email.

Send a follow-up 3-5 days later. Keep it short – you’re just highlighting your previous message. The best approach is replying to your original email so your first message appears below your new one. Copy-pasting looks messy.

Include any notable developments since you first reached out:

“Since my last email, we’re thrilled to have welcomed Stomrzy to the panel and have been featured in the FT.”

Don’t send more than three emails. After that, you come across as pushy. Some people won’t respond, and that’s fine – they are busy. Spend you energy on finding someone else.

Get an introduction wherever you can

Finding an email address isn’t always straightforward. It’s worth reaching out on social media first to ask permission to contact them – but keep that pitch ultra-brief. Ideally, though, you’ll find someone who knows the individual, or knows someone who knows them.

Warm introductions dramatically increase response rates compared to cold outreach. But don’t ask your contact for the judge’s email address (they won’t share it). Send them your complete pitch email to forward. If interest develops, you’ll get connected directly.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Don’t send mass emails with “Hi!” or generic greetings. Every judge will spot a template immediately.

Don’t approach judges too close to your deadline. “Can you judge 50 entries by next Friday?” is asking for rejection.

Don’t promise exposure to judges whose profile surpasses your own. Telling someone with 500K Instagram followers that you’ll “give them exposure” on your 2K follower account isn’t compelling.

Don’t over-explain your personal story in the initial email. A 600-word essay about how you came to organise this competition isn’t what a potential judge needs. it’s not about what you care about, it’s about what they care about.

Don’t ask for email addresses directly when seeking introductions. Send your contact the complete pitch to forward.

Don’t give up after one email. Even interested judges may miss your message. Two follow-ups is standard. Three is your maximum.

Don’t sacrifice diversity for convenience. If your first five positive responses create a homogenous panel, keep recruiting.

For more on what can go wrong across your entire programme, see our complete guide

The bottom line

Getting recognisable individuals to judge your programme provides real value to candidates. They needn’t be celebrities – respected professionals in their field work just as well, sometimes better.

But anyone who’s a leader in their industry will be busy. Industry data suggests you’ll get one positive response for every 10-15 people you contact with cold outreach. Those numbers improve to 30-40% with warm introductions, and get significantly better if you approach judges 3-4 months in advance rather than weeks before judging begins.

Making sure your judging process is simple, quick, and well-structured increases your odds of success. Find people who will empathise with what you’re trying to achieve.

Be brave. Be tenacious (without being pushy). And whatever happens, be polite regardless of the result.

Explore our full library of programme management insights for more guidance on running successful competitions and awards.

Frequently Asked Questions