AWARDS ARE COMPLEX. YOUR TOOLS SHOULDN'T MAKE IT WORSE.
Operational chaos is one half. The other half is the money you're losing without realising. Every awards organiser hits both walls.
Data Fragmentation
Nominations in one file. Scores in another. Guest lists, sponsors, dietary requirements scattered across spreadsheets, forms, and email threads. Nothing reconciles. Nothing's the single source of truth.
No Real-Time Visibility
You only spot the problem when it's too late. Judging behind schedule. A VIP table double-booked. A sponsor about to churn. By the time the issue surfaces in the next status meeting, you're already in damage-control mode.
On-The-Night Chaos
Run-of-show on paper. Seating conflicts no one caught. The wrong winner's letter goes out. What should be the high point of the year becomes a logistics nightmare instead of a celebration.
Sponsor Revenue Leaks Out
Conversations with prospects sit in inboxes. Renewal dates pass without a chase. Proposals built from scratch every time, half of them never sent. The pipeline you think you have isn't the pipeline you actually have, and the difference is six figures.
Cashflow You Can't Trust
Tickets sold, sponsors signed, suppliers booked — all tracked in different places by different people. No single view of cash in versus cash out. You find out you've run an event at a loss three weeks after the lights went down.
Invoices Sit Unsent
The event went well. Three months later, half the sponsor invoices still haven't gone out. Suppliers chase you for payment while your own debtors sit untouched. Working capital tied up because no system tells anyone what's owed and to whom.
The Solution
ONE COMMAND CENTRE. BUILT FOR AWARDS.
Accolade replaces your entire tool stack with a single platform built specifically for awards and ceremonies.
Excel
Google Sheets
WhatsApp
Trello
Canva
Why Accolade
Built by people who run awards ceremonies. 16 years of doing this the hard way is now in one product.
UK Hosted
AES-256 at rest · TLS 1.3
GDPR Compliant
Built for 99.9% Uptime
Station One & Two · Entries and Judging
FROM FIRST ENTRY TO FINAL SCORE
Launch a branded submissions portal in minutes. Configure blind judging panels with weighted scoring. Track every judge's progress in real time.
Branded submission portal nominees actually want to use
Configurable judging with blind review and weighted scoring
Automated judge reminders and conflict-of-interest detection
Judging Progress Illustrative data
Prof. James Park
4/4
100%
COMPLETE
Dame Maria Rodriguez
3/4
75%
Send Reminder
David Okonkwo
2/4
50%
Send Reminder
Dr. Maya Singh
0/4
0%
Send Reminder
Dr. Sarah Chen
4/4
100%
COMPLETE
Sponsor Pipeline Illustrative data
New Lead
Acme Corp
£120,000
In Discussion
Northwind Industries
£95,000
Continental Insurance
£75,000
Negotiating
Apex Industries
£80,000
Confirmed
Cosgrove Holdings
£125,000
Westfield Partners
£95,000
Station Four · Partners
TURN SPONSORS INTO LONG-TERM PARTNERS
Track every sponsor from first contact to signed contract. Generate branded proposals in seconds. See your pipeline and revenue in real time.
Full CRM from first contact to signed contract
Branded proposal generator creates decks in seconds
Invoice management and payment status at a glance
Station Five · The Room
800 GUESTS. ZERO SEATING CONFLICTS.
RSVP tracking, dietary management, automated table assignment, VIP handling, and supplier tracking. From trophies to table cards, every item accounted for.
RSVP tracking with dietary requirements and plus-ones
Table planner that flags conflicts automatically
Supplier tracking and inventory management
Guest & Table Planner Illustrative data
● 642 Confirmed
● 98 Pending
● 64 Tables
Name
Org
Table
RSVP
Diet
VIP
Dame Anita K.
Cosgrove Holdings
T12
✓
-
VIP
Marcus J.
Westfield Partners
T3
✓
Vegan
VIP
Daniel T.
Continental Times
T28
◔
Halal
-
Priya D.
Sterling & Co
T15
✓
Veg
VIP
Smart Table Planner Illustrative data
Unassigned Guests
Priya SharmaVEGAN
Dame Anita K.VIP
Avoid: Marcus Thompson
Dr. KhanHALAL
Marcus Thompson
Sarah ChenVEG
Ravi PatelVIP
Drag a guest to a table, or focus one and press Enter
T1
0/8 seats
T2
0/8 seats
VEGAN TABLE
T3
0/8 seats
T4
0/8 seats
Stage
Station Five · The Room
THE WORK NO ONE TALKS ABOUT
800 guests. 64 tables. 17 dietary requirements. 3 ex-husbands who must not sit together. We solved this.
Drag-and-drop floor plan with conflict detection
AI flags conflicts weeks in advance
Dietary, VIP, and social constraints auto-enforced
A 64-table plan takes 40–80 hrs in Excel. Accolade does it in minutes.
Catering & Dietary Intelligence Illustrative data
● 412 Standard
● 89 Vegetarian
● 47 Vegan
● 38 Halal
Course
Dish
Dietary
Conflicts
Send
STARTER
Prawn Cocktail
Standard
3 SHELLFISH
19:45
Tomato Gazpacho (alt)
VG GF
CLEAR
19:45
MAIN
Lamb Cutlets
Standard
CLEAR
20:15
DESSERT
Pistachio Baklava
Vegetarian
14 NUT
21:00
● Kitchen run sheet auto-generated · ● Supplier brief ready for export · 642 covers
19:45FIRE MAINStation A: Lamb · Station B: Sea Bass · Station C: VG Risotto
20:15CLEARTables 1-32 first · VIP tables hold for speech
20:45DESSERTBaklava ×548 · ⚠ NUT-FREE alt ×47 · Sorbet ×47
Allergen Information
● Prawn Cocktail: Shellfish, Egg
● Tomato Gazpacho: No major allergens
● Lamb Cutlets: Dairy (butter glaze)
● Mushroom Risotto: No major allergens
● Pistachio Baklava: Nuts, Gluten, Dairy
Auto-cross-referenced against 642 guest profiles. 47 conflicts flagged.
Station Five · The Room
RUN THE KITCHEN WITH THE SAME PRECISION AS THE CEREMONY
Multi-course menu planning, allergen cross-checking against every guest, dietary conflict alerts, kitchen run sheets, and supplier briefs. All generated from your guest list in real time.
Auto-flags allergen conflicts before the kitchen orders
Timed kitchen run sheet with plate counts per station
Wine pairings and budget tracking included
Run of Show — Ceremony Night Illustrative data
Time
Cue
Dur.
AV / Notes
● 19:30
Opening Film
5 min
VT Play + Lights Down
● 19:35
Host Welcome
3 min
Autocue + Spotlight
● 19:45
Awards 1-4
20 min
Slides + Walk-on
● 20:05
VIP Reception
15 min
Lounge Music
● 20:20
Special Recognition
8 min
Video + Applause
● 20:28
Closing
5 min
Full Stage Lights
Station Six · The Night
RUN THE NIGHT LIKE A BROADCAST
Every cue, every transition, every moment planned. Auto-generated ceremony slides, winner reveals, live check-in, and real-time arrival tracking.
Run-of-show builder with AV cues and presenter notes
Auto-generated ceremony slides and winner reveals
Live attendee check-in with real-time tracking
Analytics Dashboard Illustrative data
Revenue
£186K
↑12% vs last year
NPS Score
84
Sample event data
Nomination Funnel
2,847 Started
2,050 Complete
1,280 Shortlisted
340 Finalists
Year-over-Year
NomsTixRevNPS
Sponsors
● Title● Gold● Silver● Bronze
Geo Reach
24
countries represented
Top: UK 38% · India 22% · US 11%
Insight of the week
Nomination completions jumped 23% after enabling the branded portal. Judges are scoring 2.4 days faster than last year.
Station Seven · Afterwards
SEE EVERY METRIC. IMPROVE EVERY YEAR.
Six executive panels in one view. Revenue sparklines, NPS gauges, nomination funnels, sponsor breakdowns, and geographic reach. Year-over-year ghost bars show exactly where you grew.
Live dashboards with auto-generated board packs
YoY ghost bars so growth is impossible to miss
AI-powered weekly insight callouts
Return on Investment
WHERE DOES THE TIME REALLY GO?
Move the sliders to match your event. Watch what your team gets back.
Guests at your event800
Nominations received2,500
Suppliers to manage12
Tables to plan64
People on the floor on the day8
Blended staff cost (?)£45/hr
People touching your spreadsheets4
569
Hours your team burns every event
£15,723
Net return after the licence, for 4 people, every event
4.3× RETURN
Where the time goes
Planning 15%Noms & judging 22%Sponsors 10%Table planning 18%Ceremony 8%On the day 15%Post-event 12%
Less Accolade Professional licence (annual)−£4,752
Net return (recovered − licence)£15,723
Return multiple (recovered ÷ licence)4.3×
AND THIS DOESN'T EVEN COUNT WHEN SOMETHING ACTUALLY GOES WRONG.
Spreadsheet cells carry a measured error rate of around
1.79%(University of Hawaiʻi Panko / EuSpRIG meta-analysis, 2008–2024).
Applied to a scoring grid or a 64-table seating plan, that is not a question of whether an
error is in there. It is a question of which cell, and whether anyone finds it before the
envelope is opened. We are not going to put a price on that, because we do not have one to
give you — what we can say is that Accolade validates at the data layer, so the wrong
winner and the double-booked table are caught before they are printed.
Tool sprawlA folder of spreadsheets, paper run sheets, and WhatsApp chaos
✕
Manual nominationsTracked in spreadsheets with no validation or deduplication
✕
Blind judging theatreScores emailed back and forth with no audit trail
✕
Seating disastersConflicts found on the night when it's too late to fix
✕
Paper run-of-showPrinted, annotated, lost. No live AV cue integration
✕
Invisible sponsorsPipeline lives in someone's head or a private spreadsheet
✕
Copy-paste lettersManually typed every time, errors and inconsistencies guaranteed
✕
No analyticsYou finish the ceremony and have no data to improve next year
WITH ACCOLADE
✓
One platformFrom first nomination to standing ovation. One login, one source of truth.
✓
Branded portalOnline submissions with validation, deduplication, and trackingPart-finished entries are saved and can be resumed, so a nominee does not have to start again.
✓
Real blind judgingAutomated scoring with weighted criteria and full audit logFully auditable. Defensible to any sponsor or winner who asks.
✓
Smart seatingAI conflict detection flags problems weeks in advanceDietary, accessibility and do-not-seat rules are checked on every change, not on the night.
✓
Digital run-of-showLive timeline with AV cues, presenter notes, and stage planStage manager, AV, MC and producer on the same screen. No cue missed.
✓
Full sponsor CRMPipeline, proposals, invoices, and renewals in one viewRenewal dates and last-contact dates surface on the pipeline, so nothing lapses unchased.
✓
One-click lettersBranded winner letters with your crest and signature, generated in one click800 personalised letters in under 90 seconds. Yes, really.
✓
Live analyticsReal-time dashboards with year-over-year comparisonsBoard pack auto-generated. Your Chair sees the number before they ask.
SAME TEAM. THREE TIMES THE OUTPUT.
455 hrs
Recoverable Per Event
£15K+
Net Saving (see calculator)
~90%
Fewer Manual Errors*
1
Platform Replaces 12+
* Manual-entry and formula errors in spreadsheets typically run 1.79% per cell (University of Hawaiʻi Panko/EuSpRIG meta-analysis, 2008–2024). Platform-based data entry with validation, dedupe and audit trails reduces this to a typical <0.2% — roughly a tenfold reduction, hence "~90% fewer manual errors". £15K+ is the default calculator output above — 569 hours burned on an 800-guest ceremony, 455 recoverable at £45/hr, less the £4,752 annual Professional licence. Your number depends on your inputs.
41
purpose-built modules across seven stations. Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Add a supplier once. Watch the catering, the budget, the run-of-show and the thank-you letter update themselves.
Add a Supplier
Contracts, deposits, invoices auto-link to Budget. Kit-in/kit-out times populate Run of Show. Access requirements go to Venue. Thank-you letter drafts queued.
Add a Guest
Dietary binds to Catering. Plus-one creates a linked record. VIP binds to Speeches (top table anchor). Sponsor rep binds to Sponsor CRM as a relationship.
Add a Speech
Speaker auto-added to Guest List. AV needs populate Run of Show. Sponsor acknowledgements link to Sponsor CRM. Overrun protection recalculates the whole evening.
Eventbrite, HubSpot, Canva, and Trello can't do this. By design, Accolade can.
Not Just for Awards
THE SAME PLATFORM. THREE KINDS OF EVENTS.
Accolade was built to handle the most complex event in the world — an awards ceremony. So it handles your simpler events with ease. One platform, one login, one team. Run your awards, your conferences and your weddings from the same place.
Built for This
AWARDS CEREMONIES
All seven stations
The full platform. Nominations, judging, winners, sponsors, guest logistics, catering, ceremony production, letters, analytics. Everything from first nomination to standing ovation.
Guest lists with dietary tracking, seating charts, catering with allergen intelligence, supplier management, budgets, day-of timelines, place cards, and communications. The wedding planner's dream tool.
The British Photography Awards run their whole
programme on Accolade — nominations, judging, the guest list
and the ceremony itself — as our founding customer.
British Photography AwardsFounding customer · since early 2026
You've outgrown spreadsheets. You need a guest list that talks to your ticketing, sponsors you can track, and AI that fills the stations for you.
Best for: in-house comms or events teams running one 500-guest event a year.
Enterprise
National ceremony, premium production
Your awards night sells tables to FTSE companies. You need full sponsor CRM, run-of-show, white-label, your own subdomain, and a named contact who knows your account.
Best for: flagship industry awards, national TV ceremonies, gala events.
Agency
Event agency running multiple clients
You run awards on behalf of others. You need to keep four event workspaces clean, white-label everything to your clients, and have a phone number to call on the night.
Best for: production agencies, PR firms, awards-as-a-service operators.
Compare in detail
EVERYTHING IN ONE TABLE
See exactly what you get — and what you'll unlock by upgrading.
✓IncludedUpgrade to unlockADD-ONIntelligence pack · Q3 2026
Scroll the table sideways for Enterprise and Agency
The roadmap features above — sold as a single add-on on any paid tier. Unlimited AI sponsor dossiers, AI proposal generation, sponsor matching, live pricing benchmarks, quarterly market intelligence reports. Ships Q3 2026.
+£1,500per month
Optional add-on
Onboarding service to get you live faster — available on all paid plans.
White-Glove Setup
£1,500 one-time
We set up your account, import your data, train your team. Most customers are fully live within 5 working days.
Enterprise is hardcoded to one event per year to keep Agency commercially viable. Need a second event one-off? £500/month per extra. Need to run 4+? Talk to Sales about Agency.
Accolade Summit
£129/mo
£1,238/year billed annually (save 20%)
Everything you need to run a world-class conference
One plan, one payment, 12 months of access. Wedding planners running multiple clients — talk to us about Planner pricing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is there a free trial?
Not a time-limited one — something better. The Free plan is permanent: no credit card, no expiry, no countdown. It runs 1 event with 50 guests, 50 nominations, 3 judges and the first two stations, so you can see how Accolade handles your data before you pay for anything. Paid plans are month-to-month, cancel any time, and you can export everything to CSV on the way out.
What's the difference between Professional, Enterprise and Agency?
Professional runs a single event up to 500 guests, with the four stations an in-house team needs end-to-end (Guest List, Table Planner, Comms, Sponsors basic, Ticketing, Invoicing, Catering). Enterprise unlocks all seven stations for a single flagship event — Sponsor CRM, Outreach, Proposals, Cashflow, Run of Show, Marketing, white-label subdomain. Still capped at one event per year. Agency is the multi-event tier — same seven stations plus the multi-event console, cross-event reporting, agency white-label, and a dedicated account manager. Run up to 4 events in one workspace.
Why is Enterprise capped at one event per year?
Enterprise is priced for a single flagship event. If you need to run multiple events, Agency is built for that — same seven stations, 4 events per year, plus multi-event console, template library, and cross-event reporting. We don't allow Enterprise to scale to multiple events because that would price Agency out of existence. Need a one-off second event on Enterprise? £500/month per additional event.
Can I migrate from spreadsheets?
Yes. CSV import for nominations, judges, guests, and sponsors. Most clients are fully migrated within a week. Our White-Glove Setup add-on includes full migration support.
Can I use my own branding?
Absolutely. Upload your logo, colours, and signatures. Enterprise plans include full white-label and custom domain. Your guests never see Accolade.
What types of events can Accolade handle?
Awards ceremonies are our core: industry awards, corporate recognition, community honours, film/TV, sports, galas, and hall of fame inductions. Accolade also powers conferences and summits with a dedicated Summit plan. Awards are the most complex event type, so simpler events use fewer stations. See our Event Types section for details.
How long does setup take?
Most organisations are live within 2 weeks. Enterprise deployments with custom integrations typically take 4–6 weeks.
Is my data secure?
Fully GDPR compliant. AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Hosted on UK-based infrastructure with daily encrypted backups. Built for 99.9% uptime; formal SLA available on Enterprise plans. SOC 2 certification is in progress. A downloadable DPA is available on request.
What happens to my data if I cancel?
You own your data. Export everything to CSV at any time from your dashboard. After cancellation, your data is retained for 90 days so you can still export, then permanently deleted. No lock-in, no hostage data.
How did you calculate the labour cost in the ROI section?
We modelled it on a typical 800-guest awards ceremony using benchmarks gathered over more than a decade of running world-class events. The 569 hours shown by default are an internal estimate of pre-Accolade workload across pre-event planning, nominations and judging, sponsors, guest list and table planning, ceremony prep, the day itself, and post-event wrap-up — it is the sum of the seven rows in the calculator's breakdown, and it moves with your sliders. The £45/hr default blended cost is mid-range for a London-based event team — senior event managers fully loaded (NI, pension, overhead) are typically £50–60/hr, which makes the return even higher.
The Moment That Matters
EVERY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT. EVERY ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
Accolade handles the complexity behind the scenes — every nomination, every score, every guest, every cue — so you can focus on the moments your audience remembers for a lifetime.
YOUR AWARDS DESERVE THIS
Join the organisers who stopped fighting their tools and started running world-class ceremonies.