After the Program

Once judging is complete and you've assigned awards, it's time to publish results and give your entrants something to celebrate. This page covers everything that happens after you flip the publish toggle, and how to make the most of it.

Publishing results

The Results & Certificates Published toggle on the Results tab controls everything. When you turn it on, three things happen at once:

1. The leaderboard goes public on the program page and entry gallery
2. Award badges appear on winning entries' pages
3. Certificates become available for every entrant with a submission

The first time you publish, a confirmation dialog shows how many entrants will be emailed and flags any unassigned awards. Clicking Publish & Notify sends a one-time email to every entrant with a submitted entry, letting them know results are live and their certificates are ready.

You can toggle results off at any time to temporarily hide the leaderboard, badges, and certificates. Turning it back on restores everything without re-sending notifications.

Certificates

Every team member on every entry gets their own certificate, not just winners. This is one of the most valuable things your entrants receive from the program.

What's on each certificate

• Entrant name and their team members
• Entry title
• Program name and hosting organization
• Award badges for any prizes won (or "Certificate of Participation" for non-winners)
• A unique verification URL that anyone can visit to confirm the certificate is real

LinkedIn integration

Each team member's certificate has an Add to LinkedIn button that opens LinkedIn with the details pre-filled:

• Certificate name (program name and any awards)
• Issuing organization (your program's hosting organization)
• Issue date (based on your program's results date)
• Credential URL (the verification link back to AwardKit)

This makes it effortless for entrants to add the recognition to their professional profile. For early-career professionals, founders, and small teams, this is one of the most valuable things they get out of entering the program.

Verification pages

Each certificate has a unique, publicly accessible verification page. Employers, partners, or journalists can visit this URL to confirm:

• The entrant submitted to your program
• The entry they submitted
• Any awards they won
• The program details and hosting organization

This gives your certificates real credibility, something entrants (and the people verifying them) appreciate.

Where entrants find certificates

Certificates appear on the entrant's entry page once they sign in to AwardKit (the same account they used to submit). Each certificate's verification URL is publicly accessible, so entrants can share it with employers or in press kits without exposing their AwardKit account.

If an entrant can't find their certificates, ask them to sign in with the email they submitted under. You can also look up their entry in the Entries tab, click Manage entry, and share the link with them.

Entry gallery

Once entries close, the public entry gallery becomes available for your program. It showcases all submitted entries with their descriptions, categories, and links to detail pages.

After you publish results, award badges appear on the gallery cards too.

Who to share the gallery with

The gallery is a great asset for showcasing what your program produced:

• Entrants: So they can browse other entries and share their own
• Sponsors: As proof of the program's reach and quality of work
• Social media: Post the link to celebrate winners and highlight standout entries
• Future entrants: Show prospective entrants what past programs looked like to drive next year's entries
• Your organization's leadership or members: As a recap of the program's outcomes
• Journalists and media: As a credible reference for who entered and who won

The gallery is unlisted by default, so you control who sees it and when. Once you publish results, the program page becomes the entry gallery for visitors.

Communicating with entrants

Your entrants may not read the docs, so proactive communication makes a big difference. Here's what to share at each stage.

When results go live

Send a message through your communication channel (email, member newsletter, social media, or a partner publication) that includes:

• The entry gallery link so everyone can browse all entries and see winners
• A reminder to check their email for the results notification with their certificate link
• A note that every entrant gets a certificate, not just winners, and they can add it to LinkedIn

For winners specifically

Let award winners know that:

• Their entry pages now show the award badge publicly on the share page
• The badge also appears in the entry gallery
• Their certificates include the specific award they won
• A verification page exists they can link to from press kits, LinkedIn, or their website

Tips for maximum reach

• Announce results in your community channel first, then let the email notification serve as backup. Members are more likely to engage with a message they see in context.
• Highlight the LinkedIn feature explicitly. Many entrants won't discover it on their own. A simple "Don't forget to add your certificate to LinkedIn!" reminder goes a long way.
• Share the gallery on your organization's social media. Tag winners where appropriate. This increases visibility for both your program and your entrants.
• Save the gallery link for next year's marketing. It's a portfolio of past programs and helps recruit entrants for next year.
• Send winners a press kit with the badge image, the verification URL, and a one-paragraph blurb they can drop into their announcements.

Annual program planning

Most award programs run on annual cycles. The workflow for next year:

1. Create a new program in the same workspace with this year's name updated (for example, "Marketing Excellence Awards 2027")
2. Set up your categories, awards, and criteria the same way (or refine them based on what you learned this year)
3. Re-import this year's judging panel via judging CSV import so you don't have to retype everyone
4. Open entries and announce next year's program, using last year's entry gallery link as social proof

The setup work you did the first time still pays off: you know the right number of categories for your audience, the criteria your judges responded to, and the entry-form questions that produced the strongest submissions.