You have a really great nominee in mind for a BC Quality Award – but how do you make sure the judges know how great they are, too?
How do you ensure that their work exemplifies what quality care is all about?
It would be a shame to work on a submission, only to be missing vital information that might make your candidate the Quality Awards winner – an honour that comes with a $2,500 scholarship and a chance to potentially present their project at the annual Quality Forum.
Here are five tips for writing successful BC Quality Awards nominations:
1. Get Familiar with the BC Health Quality Matrix
Every category’s nomination form will ask you to describe how the nominee’s work addresses one or more of the seven dimensions of quality as defined by the BC Health Quality Matrix. The Matrix is the framework we use to define quality in health care.
Read up on the Matrix’s definitions of each of these dimensions so you can address them specifically and accurately in your nomination.
Note we said “one or more” of the dimensions. Your nominee’s work does not need to have improved care in all of these ways! It is okay if you present a compelling case for how this person or project addressed one or two dimensions of quality really well.
2. Choose the Category Carefully
The five Excellence in Quality award categories recognize projects that improved quality in the five areas of care (as defined by the BC Health Quality Matrix).
There are also two Transformative Leadership award categories intended to highlight the contribution of teams making meaningful partnerships.
The other three award categories are intended to recognize individuals, although there have been a few cases where a team has won.
If you are nominating the work of a team, committee, collaborative or initiative, we encourage you to consider nominating them for one of the project-based awards.
Even if their work fits within the criteria for one of the individual categories it can be difficult for the judges to score teams in the same way they score individuals.
You can always ask the BC Quality Awards team at awards@healthqualitybc.ca if you’re not sure which category is most suitable for your nominee!
3. Take Advantage of the Word Count
In each section of the nomination form, you’ll notice there’s a maximum word count. This is a good guideline for how much information we’re looking for.
Presenting your information concisely is a good thing, but if a question’s maximum word count is 500 and you’ve only written a short paragraph, the judges will be looking for more detail on which to base their scores.
4. Get a Second Set of Eyes On Your Nomination
Nominations are judged on the quality of the submission (five points of the total 50), which includes grammar and readability.
For instance, make your nomination more readable by breaking long paragraphs up into smaller ones, and avoid using medical jargon or acronyms.
Ask someone who’s not as familiar with the work you’re nominating to read through your nomination to catch any typos and suggest ways to make your nomination clearer.
5. Nominate Early
Submitting your nomination early increases the likelihood that we can thoroughly review it and offer constructive feedback or recommendations if needed.
Although not every nomination can be a winner, our team is committed to helping you craft a compelling submission, ensuring that the quality of the work shines through on its own merits.
