Internal communication is often most visible when an organisation is facing change. A new strategy is being introduced, employees are returning to the workplace, a merger is underway or leaders need to communicate difficult decisions clearly and quickly.

Behind every successful campaign is an internal communications team working to ensure people understand what is happening, why it matters and what they need to do next.

Yet when entries open for the IC Brilliance Awards™, many teams question whether they have enough time to prepare an application. With busy communication calendars and constantly changing priorities, gathering evidence and writing an entry can feel like another task competing for attention.

However, entering an internal communications award can deliver value well beyond the possibility of winning. It can demonstrate the strategic contribution of IC, recognise the people behind the work and provide independent validation that your communication has achieved measurable results.

Here is why your strongest internal communications work deserves to be considered.

Demonstrate the Strategic Value of Internal Communication

Internal communication is sometimes treated as a delivery function responsible for distributing announcements, preparing newsletters or publishing leadership messages.

The reality is far more significant.

Effective internal communication helps organisations implement change, build trust, protect culture, improve employee engagement and keep people connected to business priorities. It can influence whether employees understand a new strategy, adopt a different way of working or feel confident in their organisation’s leadership.

Preparing an award entry gives you an opportunity to demonstrate that wider value.

A strong submission connects communication activity to organisational outcomes. Rather than reporting only how many employees opened an email or visited an intranet page, it shows what people understood, how their behaviour changed and what the organisation achieved as a result.

Being named a finalist or winner provides independent recognition of that contribution. It can help senior leaders see internal communication as an essential part of organisational performance rather than simply a channel for distributing information.

Build a Stronger Case for Future Investment

Internal communications teams are often expected to achieve ambitious objectives with limited resources. Investment in technology, research, additional employees or external support may need to compete with other business priorities.

An award entry helps you assemble the evidence needed to make a stronger case for that investment.

Preparing the submission may involve reviewing:

• Employee reach and participation
• Engagement with communication channels
• Changes in employee understanding
• Adoption of new systems or behaviours
• Trust in leadership
• Employee feedback and sentiment
• Improvements in collaboration
• Progress against campaign objectives
• The effect of communication on wider business results

Bringing this information together can demonstrate where your approach has succeeded and what could be achieved with further support.

Independent award recognition can strengthen that evidence. It shows decision-makers that experienced professionals outside your organisation have assessed the work and recognised its quality and impact.

Recognise the People Behind the Communication

Internal communications professionals spend much of their time recognising the achievements of other people. They share employee stories, support leadership communications and help teams celebrate important milestones.

Their own work, however, often remains behind the scenes.

Entering the IC Brilliance Awards™ gives internal communications teams and professionals an opportunity to receive recognition for their contribution. It acknowledges the research, planning, creativity, judgement and persistence required to deliver communication that genuinely connects with employees.

This is particularly valuable when the team has supported a demanding period of organisational change, uncertainty or crisis. Much of the most important work may have been completed under pressure, with little time to reflect on what was achieved.

Preparing an entry creates that moment of reflection. It allows the organisation to recognise the team responsible and demonstrate that its work is valued.

Understand What Is Working

Internal communications teams produce a large volume of content across multiple channels. Emails, intranets, employee apps, town halls, videos, social platforms and manager briefings may all form part of the same communication environment.

With so much activity taking place, it can be difficult to identify which elements are producing the greatest impact.

Writing an award entry requires you to examine the complete communication journey. You must consider the original challenge, the audience, the strategy, the channels selected, the way the campaign was delivered and the results it produced.

This review may reveal that employees responded particularly well to manager-led conversations, short videos or opportunities to ask questions directly. It may also show that one channel generated high reach but limited understanding, while another produced stronger participation or behavioural change.

These insights can help your team make better decisions about future campaigns, communication channels and resources.

Strengthen Employee Trust During Change

Periods of organisational change can create uncertainty, rumours and resistance. Employees want timely information, but they also want honesty, clarity and the opportunity to be heard.

Strong change communication helps people understand what is changing, why the decision was made and how it will affect them. It also provides leaders with a way to listen to concerns and respond meaningfully.

Entering a change communications or crisis communications award allows your organisation to document how communication supported people through a difficult period.

A compelling entry might demonstrate how the team:

• Maintained trust during a restructuring or merger
• Helped employees adopt a new operating model
• Supported the introduction of new workplace technology
• Responded to misinformation or uncertainty
• Equipped managers to answer difficult questions
• Created opportunities for employees to share feedback
• Adapted communication as circumstances changed

Recognition for this work demonstrates that internal communication contributed directly to organisational stability, employee confidence and the successful implementation of change.

Improve Your Employer Brand from Within

Employer branding does not begin with recruitment advertising. It begins with the experience of the people already working within the organisation.

Employees are more likely to speak positively about their employer when they feel informed, listened to and connected to its purpose. Internal communication plays an important role in creating that experience.

Being recognised for an employee engagement campaign, intranet, wellbeing initiative or wider communication strategy provides visible evidence of the organisation’s commitment to its people.

Finalist or winner recognition can support recruitment campaigns, careers content, social media, employee communications and leadership presentations. More importantly, it gives current employees a shared achievement in which they can take pride.

External recognition is most powerful when it reflects a genuine internal experience. An IC award can help demonstrate that the organisation is investing in communication that supports employees rather than simply making claims about its culture.

Create a Valuable Internal Communications Case Study

Successful communication projects are often completed and quickly followed by the next priority. As a result, the strategy, decisions and lessons behind them may never be properly documented.

An award entry brings that information together in a clear and useful format.

The completed submission can provide the foundation for:

• An internal communications case study
• A leadership presentation
• A team learning session
• A professional conference proposal
• Recruitment and employer-branding content
• A communications portfolio
• A future business case
• External articles and industry features

Even if the entry does not win, the organisation is left with a detailed record of what was delivered, what worked and what should be improved next time.

Benchmark Your Work Beyond Your Organisation

Internal communication is shaped by each organisation’s workforce, culture, structure and business priorities. This can make direct comparisons difficult.

An international award programme provides a valuable external benchmark.

Submitting your work allows it to be considered alongside communication strategies, campaigns and initiatives from organisations operating across different industries and countries. Recognition from an independent judging panel can confirm that your approach represents strong professional practice beyond your own internal measures.

The process can also help your team identify gaps in its evidence. You may discover that the campaign achieved strong engagement but lacked a clear baseline, or that employee feedback was collected without being connected to the original objectives.

These lessons can improve how future communication projects are planned, measured and evaluated.

What Makes a Strong Internal Communications Award Entry?

An effective entry does not need exaggerated claims or complicated language. It needs a clear objective, a well-considered strategy and evidence that the communication made a meaningful difference.

Begin with the communication challenge

Explain the situation before the work began.

Was employee trust declining? Were people struggling to understand the business strategy? Did a new system have low adoption? Was important information failing to reach frontline or remote employees?

Judges need this context to understand why the communication was necessary and what made the challenge significant.

Define the audience clearly

Avoid describing the audience simply as “all employees” unless the same approach genuinely applied to everyone.

Explain the different employee groups involved and how their communication needs varied. Consider factors such as location, role, working environment, language, access to technology and level of familiarity with the subject.

Strong entries demonstrate that communication was designed around the needs of the audience.

Explain the strategy, not only the activity

Listing emails, videos, events and intranet articles does not explain why the campaign was effective.

Describe the thinking behind the work. Why were particular messages and channels selected? How did employee insight influence the approach? How were leaders and managers involved? How did the communication support the organisation’s wider objectives?

Judges should be able to follow the reasoning from the original challenge to the final delivery.

Show creativity with a clear purpose

Creativity is valuable when it helps employees understand, participate or take action.

Explain how your idea addressed a genuine communication challenge. A creative format, campaign identity or use of technology should support the objective rather than exist simply to attract attention.

If you used an employee app, artificial intelligence, an intranet or another digital tool, show how the technology improved accessibility, relevance, efficiency or engagement.

Measure more than reach

Open rates, page views and event attendance can be useful, but they do not always show whether communication achieved its purpose.

Where possible, include evidence of:

• Improved employee understanding
• Changes in behaviour
• Increased participation
• Greater confidence in leadership
• Stronger employee engagement
• Adoption of a new process or system
• Improved sentiment or feedback
• Progress against a business objective

Compare the results with a clear starting point, previous performance or an agreed target.

Include the employee voice

Employee feedback can demonstrate how communication was received and whether it addressed people’s concerns.

Use relevant survey findings, focus-group insights, comments or testimonials to support your evidence. Select examples that reveal something meaningful about the employee experience rather than comments that provide only general praise.

Be honest about what changed

Strong communication strategies evolve.

If the original approach did not work as expected, explain what the team learned and how it responded. Perhaps employees needed more opportunities to ask questions, managers required additional support or one channel was less effective than anticipated.

Showing how the strategy was adjusted demonstrates responsiveness, professional judgement and a genuine commitment to effective communication.

Give Your Communication Work the Recognition It Deserves

Internal communication can determine whether employees feel informed or overlooked, whether change is understood or resisted and whether organisational values are experienced in practice.

That contribution deserves to be documented and recognised.

You do not need the largest team, the most expensive platform or a global campaign to prepare a strong entry. What matters is the quality of the thinking, the relevance of the approach and the difference the work made to employees and the organisation.

If your team has strengthened employee trust, improved engagement, supported change or introduced a more effective way for people to connect, you may already have an award-worthy story.

About the IC Brilliance Awards™

The IC Brilliance Awards™ celebrate outstanding achievements in internal communications and recognise the professionals, teams, agencies, strategies and campaigns that help organisations communicate more effectively with their people.

Part of the International Brilliance Awards™, established in 2014, the programme provides an international platform for work across internal communications strategy, employee engagement, employee experience, change and crisis communication, intranets, digital channels, employee wellbeing, communication technology and AI-powered IC solutions.

Entries are open to organisations and professionals worldwide and are assessed through an independent blind judging process. Each submission is evaluated on the strength of its objectives, strategy, implementation, evidence and measurable impact.

The entry deadline for the 2027 awards is 5 October 2026. Finalists will be announced on 23 November 2026, followed by the awards ceremony in London on 28 January 2027.

About the International Brilliance Awards™

Founded in 2014, the International Brilliance Awards™ recognise work defined by clear thinking, strong execution, and meaningful business impact across organisations worldwide.

The International Brilliance Awards™ serve as the flagship programme of the Brilliance Awards family, which includes Business Brilliance Awards, HR Brilliance Awards, Internal Communications (IC) Brilliance Awards, Marketing & PR Brilliance Awards, Sales & Revenue Brilliance Awards, and Sustainability & ESG Brilliance Awards.

Each programme focuses on a distinct area of organisational performance, while maintaining a consistent standard of evaluation through an independent, blind judging process.