Attention, Please! How to Present an Award

Attention, Please! How to Present an Award

Winning an award takes hard work and preparation, but then again so does presenting one.

The acceptance speech is for the fans, but the award presentation speech is for the individual or group receiving the award. As a presenter, it's your job to make the recipient feel special.

Imagine if The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ran commercials during award presentations like they were planning to?

The winners would feel belittled and the awards' meanings diminished.

It's the winner's moment, not yours. How do you make it special? Keep reading to find out.

 

"What's My Name?"

Know both the individual's name and how it's pronounced before announcing it. Additionally, make sure you know the exact title of the award before presenting it.

Having the necessary information on hand and being familiar with it will help you relax and deliver the award confidently.

 

Tailoring Your Award Presentation Speech

Do you need to wear a tie? Do you need to write a joke? Sometimes the award itself is meant to poke fun at the recipient.

The context of the ceremony itself plays a large role in determining how you should approach the presentation. If the event is corporate, perhaps in your workplace, it's best to not crack jokes that will make the next day in the office uncomfortable.

Each year ESPN hosts an awards show called "The ESPYs", essentially "the Oscars" of sports awards. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show in 2007 and brought NBA superstar LeBron James with him to help. Kimmel, already famously funny enough to host alone, was smart enough to know that hosting alongside James would appeal to an audience of die hard sports fans better than doing it himself.

Typically the presentation should be all about the recipient, but there are rare cases in which that's not true. If the award is funny, then you probably should be too. If you're giving your boss a lifetime achievement award, then keep the joke book at home.

 

"And the Award Goes To..."

Are you handing out an MVP award, or a consolation prize? If it's the former, chances are you'll need a speech that highlights just how important the award is.

You can start with an anecdote about the recipient and connect it to how he or she embodies what it means to be a winner. This is great for when the audience and recipient already knows who is going to win the award. It places more emphasis on the "why" rather than the "who".

If you wanted to create suspense on "who" won the award, you could first describe what it means to be a winner (or "team's goofiest", whatever the award may be), and then announce the name(s) of the recipients. This is most common seen in presentations like the Oscars or Golden Globes.

 

You Did It!

If you were chosen to present the award, congratulations. Using the advice above will let you make someone else's day special. The same goes for if you're planning an awards ceremony yourself.

Don't let planning your award presentation speech stress you out. Keep what we talked about in mind, and let us know if it helped!