The “Myths” of TWIA
Here at TWIA we love that our awards showcase excellent wedding suppliers, and wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on a chance of being a finalist or winning because of one of the “TWIA myths”. So, here are the most common statements we hear that stop people entering, and the truth to bust those myths!
“My business doesn’t do enough weddings to be able to compete”
Just because one wedding supplier does more wedding than another it doesn’t mean they are necessarily better than another supplier who does fewer weddings. As a result, TWIA is specifically designed to allow wedding businesses of all shapes and sizes to enter the awards on a level playing field. This sits at the very core of TWIA.
You can read all about how this works here but, in brief, we use each supplier’s average voter score throughout the judging process which means it can’t be about ‘first-past-the-post-who-gets-the-most-votes-wins’. Furthermore, we look at as many aspects of each entrant’s business as possible during the judging process to make it as fair, rounded and rigorous as possible. If you look at our regional and national winners over the years you’ll see plenty of smaller, less well-known wedding suppliers. The good news is that they didn’t stay like that for long after winning!
“Everyone becomes a finalist and the same people always win.”
Nope! Each year about 3/4 to 2/3 of all entrants become a regional finalist. There is no limit on the number of finalists as that would be to pre-judge. Instead, everything is awarded on merit. Initially this is based on each entrant’s average voter score when compared to their category average voter score. Judges may then award ‘wild cards’. Full details of how the finalists are drawn up can be seen HERE. In some regional categories all the entrants become finalists but this is rare and only happens in a very small number of regional categories (9 out of 200 last year!)
Just because you have won before, it doesn’t mean that you’ll win again. On the other hand, just because you have won before, it doesn’t mean you can’t win again. Each year sees a fresh competition with different entrants, different voters and even different judges in some cases. Each judge has equal weight and all judging is done remotely and without consultation. As a result, for a finalist to win a regional or national award they must be highly regarded by the majority of judges on their category panel. Details on Past Regional and National Winners can be accessed HERE.
“The awards are for only prestige, expensive suppliers”
No way! They are for all wedding suppliers. Prestige in our industry is often the result of marketing expertise (and budget!), in addition to high levels of skill and customer service. TWIA is all about showcasing wedding professionals whose clients think they are great and whom our judging panel also think very highly of. It’s an unrivalled opportunity for businesses of all shapes and sizes to have the spotlight shone on them and it works.
“I can’t come to the awards event in my region so I won’t win.”
Your ability (or desire!) to attend any of our events has absolutely no impact on your chances of winning a regional or national award. We haven’t set up the most rigorous and credible awards the wedding industry has ever seen only to give the awards to people who can come to our events. Apart from anything else, the judging panel have no idea who is coming to the events and who isn’t and so, inevitably, each year there are a small number of finalists who cannot attend their regional awards event (for whatever reason) but who win a regional award. When this happens, everyone in attendance gives the winner a huge virtual high-five and we send them their trophy by courier.
We never, ever tell anyone whether they have won or to before the winners are announced at the events and you have as much chance of winning as anyone else regardless of whether you can come to any of our events, regional or national.
“The process to enter the awards takes a lot of time”
The entry process itself takes about 10 minutes. You simply set up your account, pay the £108 entry fee and create your Judging and Directory profiles. Simple as that really. The process of finalising your entry may well take a little longer as you complete the in-depth category-specific questions and upload photos and videos etc. You can edit your entry any time before voting closes on 30.09.24.
What will take a little more time and effort is encouraging all your recent wedding couples to vote for you on our website. Rest assured that they will all want to vote for you, but everyone is busy and sometimes it might take a couple of reminders and a looming deadline in order to get some of your couples to vote. Each year we get more than 25,000 votes so the process does work well!
“There are no benefits if you don’t win”
Whilst winning is great, just being involved in TWIA can be beneficial to you and your business. Wedding suppliers are always looking for a way to mark themselves out from the crowd and entering TWIA is a great way of doing this if you make it work for you and your business.
You will have access to our branding which is great for marketing. Your prospective brides and grooms will be impressed by the fact that you have entered the awards, let alone become a finalist or even won a regional or national award and TWIA is a real talking point with your clients; past, present and future. Entering TWIA is also a really great way to examine your business and look at what you are doing and why you do it. This can be so useful for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Learn more >>
We recently did this ourselves when we entered a business awards. Against all the odds we won two awards and you can read more about our experiences here.
You’ll receive all your voter comments and average scores, you’ll get to meet and connect with other like-minded wedding suppliers at our unique and award-winning awards events and you’ll be in the mix to win a regional or national award for all your hard work.
“I haven’t been nominated so I can’t enter”
You don’t have to be nominated in order to enter. It’s worth clarifying the terms we use.
Nomination is simply a means by which anyone can tell us about a great wedding supplier they know. We then contact that supplier telling them they have been nominated and inviting them to enter. Nominating someone is a great way of showing them how much you think of them, their business and the service or product. It’s also a really great way of doing your good deed for the day! Wedding suppliers who have entered the awards must then encourage their clients to vote for them.
Most wedding suppliers simply enter themselves into the awards without being nominated. It takes a bit of courage and a smattering of confidence to enter the awards, but that’s half the battle when you are a wedding business, right?
“My clients won’t want to vote for me”
If you have done a great job for your clients, provided excellent products and services, gone above and beyond to deliver excellent customer service and generally been the lovely person that you are then they will absolutely, 100% want to vote for you. They might need some reminding but they will vote for you. More than 25,000 votes each year proves the point.
“The cost is too high to enter TWIA”
We understand that money can be tight, especially at the moment, but we feel that the £108 entry fee is great value for money. It is SO important to think of value and not just cost. Here are just some of the things you get:
- Entry into the most prestigious awards in our industry and all the admin and infrastructure that is required behind the scenes to make everything work.
- Free listing on our Directory and prominent visibility to thousands of couples looking for the best suppliers for their weddings.
- Provision of full voter feedback after the awards. It’s effectively like us doing your customer feedback survey for you.
- The opportunity to meet and connect with other like-minded wedding suppliers at our award-winning events or simply via social media.
More benefits of entry can be seen here. More on why there is an entry fee at all can be seen here.
There aren’t many ways in which you could invest £108 in yourself and your business with such a huge potential for return.
If you have any more questions please comment below. For full details on how TWIA works and to enter the awards CLICK HERE.
