Frequently Asked Questions

…and, more importantly, the answers!

ABOUT AWARDSTAGE

  • AwardStage is a powerful, yet simple tool to help you run a successful awards programme. It makes the process of gathering entries/submissions/nominations easy, and then allows your judges to score and assess those submissions with minimum fuss.


    The AwardStage offering allows you to create an awards website, and to sell tickets to your awards celebration event. That’s what it’s all about, right?

  • If you would like to launch an award, any type of competition, nominations, or anything that requires submissions or judging, then this is the place for you.

  • We’re here to help you smash your business goals. Want to boost revenue and sales? We've got you covered. Plus, we’ll save you time with a smooth, easy-to-use platform that’s a breeze for entrants, judges, and admins alike. Need a beautiful website? Done. Accept award entries (free or paid), keep the conversation flowing with your users, and make judging a walk in the park for everyone. You can view and share results, sell tickets for your ceremony, generate reports, and even clone your setup for next year in a flash.

  • AwardStage stands out for its user-friendly and intuitive design, making it easy for everyone involved—admins, entrants, and judges—to navigate the platform. Whether you're managing the awards process, submitting an entry, or reviewing submissions, the system is simple and straightforward, reducing the learning curve and allowing you to focus on what matters most. We also offer free onboarding to ensure you're up and running smoothly from day one, and our super friendly customer support team is always ready to assist with any questions you may have. With AwardStage, you’re not just getting a platform; you're gaining a team mate who wants to see you succeed!

  • Our head office is just outside London in the UK, but our clients come from all corners of the globe. AwardStage data is stored securely in a number of EEA locations - read more about that here.

  • In order to provide the best experience, along with robust security, AwardStage supports the latest two releases (ie the current and previous major release) of…

    • Chrome

    • Firefox

    • Microsoft Edge

    • Safari

    Attempting to use older browsers may compromise your AwardStage experience (or may not work at all).

  • Yes, get access to all the tools you need to set up, manage, enter, and score your awards with a free 14-days trial here.

GETTING STARTED

  • To get started, sign up for one of our plans, and we will be in touch with next steps. We will get your awards set up for you as part of our Standard, Pro or Enterprise plans followed by free onboarding and support all the way through launch, submissions, and judging, as well as your event ceremony if needed.

  • No, AwardStage doesn’t operate on a subscription plan. Instead, there’s a one-time fee paid at the start, which covers 12 months of use. You won’t be automatically subscribed for the following year, but we’ll reach out a few months before your next program to see if you'd like to continue.

    When it’s time for the next season, you can easily clone and relaunch your program in just minutes, while the previous one is archived—though you'll still have full access to it.

  • No coding experience is required to use our platform. It’s designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, enabling you to set everything up with ease.

  • When you sign up to AwardStage, your subscription term is for 12 months per award, giving you plenty of time to set up and run your awards, and allowing you easy access to all your data.

  • Once payment is completed, you’ll have the ability to clone and relaunch your next programme right away.

PRICING + PAYMENTS

  • We have a range of pricing tiers designed to give you everything you need to run your awards, in a cost-effective package.

    Check out our pricing page here.

  • No! Basic onboarding is included in all our pricing tiers; more comprehensive support is available in Pro and Enterprise tiers.

  • Yes, if you have two or more programmes, we can offer you a discount for running multiple awards with us. Please get in touch for a quote.

  • Our different tiers allow different numbers of admins:

    Lite: 2 admins
    Standard: 5 admins
    Pro + Enterprise: unlimited admins

  • The Stripe payment platform is integrated with AwardStage, allowing entrants to pay their entry fees online.

    If you already have a Stripe account, then you are free to connect that directly with your awards site. Don’t have one yet? No problem! A step-by-step wizard will take you through the process of creating one, including setting up your payout schedule.

  • While we would love to offer discounted pricing, our rates are consistent for all clients, including charities and not-for-profits. However, we occasionally have special offers for the charitable sector, so it's always a good idea to reach out to us and find out what’s in the pipeline.

BRANDING + WEBSITE

  • Absolutely! You can add your own logos, images, and colours to the platform.

  • Once your awards setup is complete, you’ll have the option to link it to your website with a button, such as an "Enter Here" button.

  • Our easy-to-use website builder allows you to build a customised, beautiful, and flexible website.

    You can choose which sections to include, and how you’d like them to appear. You can create sites by adding predefined elements, or creating your own, providing a huge amount of styling freedom.

    We’ve created a vast library of commonly used templates for page sections, which can be drag-and-dropped into place, styled, and customised.

    For those clients who want to recreate a consistent look and feel across their whole portfolio, we’ve provided the ability to save your own website structure as a personal template, saving you even more time and effort going forward. You can simply tweak colours, text, images, and layout as needed.

SECURITY

  • Very! We know you take security seriously - and so do we. AwardStage uses industry-leading, best practice security measures to ensure your data is always safe. Click here to find out more.

  • AwardStage is hosted on enterprise-grade Amazon infrastructure. The data is stored in Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in a number of EEA locations.

SUPPORT

  • Yes, we will send you a questionnaire about your requirements, and help you build your awards ready for to test.

    All our fees include free onboarding!

    Our Standard, Pro and Enterprise plans also include a free pre-launch check.

  • Yes, of course! AwardStage is here to help you to ‘stress less and celebrate more’. The platform does have a lot of functionality so, if you need any help working out what to do, we have several ways to set you on the right path. These include our online help centre (usually the quickest way to get answers), our technical helpdesk, or your AwardStage account manager.

  • Our ‘in-person’ support hours are between 9am and 530pm (UK time), Monday to Friday. Outside of those times, we have a comprehensive online Help Guide available to all users, which features around 200 articles on how to use the platform.

    In addition, you can submit a ticket via our online helpdesk, which will be addressed at the earliest opportunity.