Criteria differ from one award to the next, so always read yours first. But whatever the category, a judge is usually working through a stack of entries against a scoring sheet. Your job is to make theirs easy.
What they are looking for
Four questions come up again and again. What was the problem or the goal? What did you do about it, and why that? What happened as a result? And how do you know? Entries that answer those four clearly tend to stand out, because many do not.
Lead with the result
Put your strongest result, with its evidence, near the top. A judge who finds a clear figure in the first paragraph will read the rest to find out how you got there. A judge who has to hunt for it may not bother. Use real before and after numbers, and say how they were measured. If something cannot be measured, say what you did see and make clear that it is not a figure.
Show the thinking
Judges want to see that the result came from a decision, not from luck. Explain the insight behind the idea: what you knew about the audience, what you chose not to do, and why. A modest budget with a sharp idea often reads better than a big spend with no clear reason.
Keep it plain
Skip the superlatives. "Innovative", "groundbreaking" and "unique" tell a judge nothing, while evidence tells them everything. Use plain language and short paragraphs, and include an image or two where the rules allow. Check the word limit and stay inside it. Then ask someone outside the project to read it. If they cannot tell what happened and why it mattered, a judge will not be able to either.
If you have a project you think deserves an entry and want help telling the story, let's talk.