PART 2 of a three part series on the IFA Innovation Awards
Understanding the judging criteria is only half the challenge.
The next step is translating those criteria into an application that makes your product impossible to misunderstand.
The strongest submissions don’t try to impress judges with marketing language. They help judges reach the right conclusion quickly by presenting evidence in a logical, accessible way.
Think of the application as a guided tour of your product’s innovation.
Every section should answer a specific question the judges are already asking.
Think Like a Judge
The biggest mistake applicants make is assuming the judges know as much about the category as they do. The truthis they don’t.
Every submission should work for someone encountering the product for the first time.
IFA itself offers practical guidance that is worth following closely. Treat your opening summary as a sixty-second elevator pitch. Avoid internal terminology. Support every important claim with technical evidence and visual proof because judges cannot interact with the product directly.
A successful IFA Innovation Awards application follows a predictable pattern. The table below summarises the seven principles that consistently make submissions clearer, more persuasive, and easier for judges to evaluate.
| Step | Core Principle | What to Focus On | Key Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Think Like a Judge | Write for someone seeing your product for the first time. | Start with a clear opening summary, avoid internal jargon, support claims with evidence and visuals, and make the application easy to evaluate. | The easier you make the judges’ job, the stronger your application becomes. |
| Start With the Customer Problem | Begin with the problem, not the product. | Explain the customer challenge before introducing your solution so the innovation has context. | Explain the problem before explaining the solution. |
| Explain Why Your Product Is Innovative | Show how your product advances the category. | Focus on customer outcomes, competitive differentiation, and meaningful improvements rather than feature updates. | Demonstrate category advancement, not product evolution. |
| Support Every Claim With Evidence | Replace marketing language with proof. | Include testing data, certifications, benchmarks, engineering documentation, patents, and measurable results. | Every important claim deserves supporting proof. |
| Show the Product Clearly | Use visuals to explain the innovation. | Include product photography, interface screenshots, engineering details, accessories, mechanisms, and before-and-after comparisons. | Use images to explain, not simply to impress. |
| Use Video to Explain What Words Cannot | Demonstrate the product in action. | Show the problem, the solution, and why it’s better with a concise demonstration rather than a promotional video. | Demonstration beats promotion. |
| Choose the Right Category | Tailor the submission to the judging panel. | Adapt the narrative for each category instead of submitting identical applications across multiple categories. | Tailor the story, not the product. |
| Remove Internal Language | Write for an intelligent outsider. | Replace project names, acronyms, and engineering shorthand with clear customer-focused language. | Clarity always outperforms complexity. |
| Common Submission Mistakes | Avoid the errors that weaken otherwise strong entries. | Don’t lead with features, confuse novelty with innovation, make unsupported claims, rely on jargon, use unhelpful visuals, submit identical entries, or assume judges know your market. | View the application through the eyes of someone encountering your product for the first time. |
Step 1: Start With the Customer Problem
Most applications begin by describing the product.
That feels logical.
After all, you’re submitting a product.
It is rarely the strongest place to begin.
Start with the problem the customer is trying to solve.
A robot lawn mower is not interesting because it uses an advanced navigation system.
It becomes interesting because maintaining uneven terrain without constant supervision has frustrated homeowners for years.
Once the judge understands the problem, the innovation has context.
Without that context, even exceptional engineering can look like another technical specification.
Why This Works
Innovation only has value when it solves a meaningful problem.
The customer challenge provides the framework that allows judges to appreciate the engineering that follows.
Takeaway: Explain the problem before explaining the solution.
Step 2: Explain Why Your Product Is Actually Innovative
Innovation should be measured against the market, not against your previous model.
Many submissions focus on what changed internally.
Judges are trying to understand what changed for the customer.
Ask yourself:
- What can customers do today that they couldn’t do before?
- Which long-standing compromise has the product removed?
- Why can’t competitors deliver the same result?
- What makes this advancement meaningful rather than incremental?
If those questions are difficult to answer, the innovation probably needs stronger definition before the submission is written.
Why This Works
Innovation is rarely about adding features.
It is about changing outcomes.
Takeaway: Demonstrate category advancement, not product evolution.
Step 3: Support Every Claim With Evidence
Marketing language does not win awards.
Evidence does.
If charging speed has improved, explain compared with what.
If battery life has increased, describe the testing methodology.
If efficiency has improved, explain how it was measured.
IFA encourages applicants to support innovation claims with technical documentation because judges cannot independently verify product performance.
Every piece of supporting evidence reduces uncertainty.
Every unsupported claim increases it.
Evidence That Strengthens Applications
- Independent testing
- Performance benchmarks
- Engineering documentation
- Patent information
- Certification results
- Laboratory testing
- Comparative performance data
The stronger the evidence, the less persuasion your writing has to do.
Takeaway: Every important claim deserves supporting proof.
Step 4: Show the Product Clearly
Many companies upload attractive lifestyle photography.
That isn’t enough.
Judges need to understand the product quickly.
Every image should answer a question.
Consider including:
- Clean product photography from multiple angles
- Close-up images highlighting important engineering decisions
- User interface screens
- Controls and accessories
- Internal mechanisms where relevant
- Before-and-after comparisons where appropriate
Lifestyle imagery has value.
Technical clarity matters more.
Why Visuals Matter
The judges cannot physically examine your product.
Your photography becomes their hands.
Takeaway: Use images to explain, not simply to impress.
Step 5: Use Video to Explain What Words Cannot
Some products make immediate sense once they begin moving.
A folding mechanism.
A robotic process.
A software workflow.
An automated feature.
A setup sequence.
IFA encourages applicants to include demonstration videos because many innovations are easier to understand in motion than through written explanation.
The objective is not cinematic production.
It is clarity.
A concise demonstration showing the product solving the customer’s problem will usually outperform a polished promotional film full of dramatic music and sweeping visuals.
Keep It Simple
The best demonstration videos answer three questions:
- What problem exists?
- How does the product solve it?
- Why is that solution better?
If viewers understand those three things, the video has done its job.
Takeaway: Demonstration beats promotion.
Step 6: Choose the Right Category
Many products legitimately fit multiple categories.
That does not mean every submission should be identical.
Each judging panel approaches products from a different perspective.
A computing innovation will be evaluated differently from a smart home product.
A wearable device may need to emphasise usability, while a sustainability category may prioritise environmental impact.
The product stays the same.
The story should adapt to the audience evaluating it.
Common Mistake
Submitting the same application to multiple categories without changing the narrative.
Judges expect relevance.
Give them a submission that speaks directly to the category they are evaluating.
Takeaway: Tailor the story, not the product.
Step 7: Remove Internal Language
Every technology company develops its own vocabulary.
Engineers understand it.
Product managers understand it.
Judges often don’t.
Replace internal project names with descriptive language.
Replace engineering shorthand with customer outcomes.
Replace acronyms wherever possible unless they are universally recognised.
The application should feel accessible without becoming simplistic.
If someone outside your company cannot understand the first page, rewrite it.
A Useful Test
Ask someone outside the business to read the opening section.
If they cannot explain the product back to you in their own words, your application is still too technical.
Takeaway: Clarity always outperforms complexity.
Common Submission Mistakes
Across hundreds of award applications, the same mistakes appear repeatedly.
Avoid these and you immediately improve your chances.
- Leading with features instead of customer problems.
- Confusing new technology with meaningful innovation.
- Making unsupported performance claims.
- Using internal terminology that judges don’t recognise.
- Providing beautiful photography that explains very little.
- Submitting identical applications across multiple categories.
- Assuming the judges already understand your market.
None of these mistakes are difficult to fix.
They simply require stepping outside your own perspective and viewing the submission through the eyes of someone encountering the product for the first time.
The Signal
- Great products still need great submissions.
- Customer outcomes matter more than technical complexity.
- Clear evidence consistently outperforms marketing language.
Frequently asked questions
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