3 Evaluation Platforms You Can Use For Your Next Awards Program
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Finding the right awards evaluation platform that has all the bells and whistles without breaking the bank can be a time-consuming task. You may be an awards organizer or a business owner running a contest for the first time, and trying to decide what will work best for you. Knowing the struggle, I've cleared the evaluation fog using a few basic requirements to compare 3 of the top evaluation platforms: Submit.com, Award Force, and Evalato.
The needs of an Awards program varies from award to award, but i've laid out a few basic questions and requirements that will help you compare each platform:
How much is the basic subscription?
Is there an e-commerce or payment option for award submissions?
How many awards categories are accepted?
How many judges can there be?
Is there a file upload option for submissions?
SUBMIT.COM
Submit.com boasts being affordable, versatile, security smart, and ever-improving. While this may be true, you do have to pay a pretty penny to get all of the services you might require.
How much is the basic subscription?
There are 4 subscription options, the most basic is the “Start” plan, and is only $145 USD monthly, with an annual subscription (roughly $1740 USD before tax).
The other plans such as the ‘Create’ ($265 USD monthly) and ‘Pro’ ($495 USD monthly) plans are the next steps up and offer a wider range of resources. If you're looking for ‘Custom’ plan pricing you’ll need to contact Submit.com directly.
Is there an e-commerce or payment option for award submissions?
No, but you can upgrade to Submit’s pricier ‘Pro’ plan to receive this feature.
How many awards categories/forms are accepted?
This ‘Start’ plan only allows for two active forms. This will work for very small awards, or used for those that need only one form such as scholarship or grant applications and events. Again if you’re looking for more forms, you’ll have to upgrade.
How many judges/jurors can there be?
Submit.com’s ‘Start’ plan does not allow any external reviewers, meaning only one person (the account holder) can go in and evaluate submissions. This is certainly not ideal for those of us with multiple judges, but can be worked around by sharing login and having an external judging document if you went with this plan. However, if you were to go with a more robust plan, you have the option to invite others internally.
Is there a file upload option for submissions?
All plans on Submit.com allow for media uploads.
HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF SERVICES YOU GET WITH SUBMIT.COM’S ‘START’ PLAN:
Data Encryption In Transit
Advance Search
Social Single Sign-On (SSO)
Custom Logo & Branding
Auto Tagging
Media Uploads
Branch Logic
Submit.link Shortener
Smart Tables
Field Validation
QR Code Generator
Reports & Exports
In-App Live Chat Support
AWARD FORCE
Award Force is an award-winning platform and states they’re the #1 service choice. Apparently, with their program you’ll: “Save time, save money, stay sane.” but their most basic plan is already more than Submit.com.
How much is the basic subscription?
There are 4 subscription options, the most basic is the “Starter” plan that renews annually at $1,690 CAD. They describe the Starter plan as best for: “Simple programs that are free to enter, with low entry volumes. Get organised, ready to scale.”
The other plans are the ‘Plus’ ($3,690 CAD), ‘Pro’ ($5,990 CAD) and ‘Enterprise’ ($12,990 CAD) if you're needing to upgrade.
Is there an e-commerce or payment option for award submissions?
Unfortunately not, you must upgrade to the ‘Pro’ plan for this feature.
How many awards categories/forms are accepted?
They do not explicitly state how many categories or forms you can create, however they state that they are highly configurable. I'm assuming this means there is an unlimited amount.
How many judges/jurors can there be?
You can have an unlimited number of managers/users on the account, which is fantastic for a basic plan.
Is there a file upload option for submissions?
You can upload files to a submission, at 5MB limit per file upload.
HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF SERVICES YOU GET WITH AWARD FORCE’S ‘STARTER’ PLAN:
Configurable user registration
Social + mobile authentication
Role registration forms
Entry / application categories
Auto-save
Users can edit their entry after submission until deadline
Packing slip to accompany physical entry materials
Entry record PDF download
Multi-lingual user interface with 18+ languages
EVALATO
Evalato is a super flexible option, with only one subscription option that’s “pay as you go”, so you can easily make your awards what you need them to be without the hidden costs or needing much technical skill.
How much is the basic subscription?
You can try out Evalato for free before you buy, which is fantastic to do a trial run to see if it fits for you first.
If you're satisfied with its service, Evalato’s ‘pay as you go’ plan is €900 ($1397.03 CAD) per awards program annually, and €3 ($5 CAD) per submission. If you're requiring payment for submission, this cost can easily be covered.
Is there an e-commerce or payment option for award submissions?
There is the option for payment for submissions, you can customise this to however much.
How many awards categories/forms are accepted?
There is an unlimited number of award categories and forms you can create.
How many judges/jurors can there be?
There is an unlimited number of judges that can be invited. They get their own judging login and platform based on the judging settings you lay out. You can even create more than one judging round if you want to get crazy.
Is there a file upload option for submissions?
You can upload files to submission with 20 MB limit per single file, but there is an unlimited storage capacity.
HERE IS THE FULL LIST OF SERVICES YOU GET WITH EVALATO’S ‘PAY AS YOU GO’ PLAN:
unlimited users (admins)
unlimited judges
unlimited categories
Unlimited groups (chapters/regions)
Charge application fees
Unlimited forms
Unlimited fields
Unlimited file uploads (with 20 MB limit per single file)
Unlimited storage capacity
All judging modes
Unlimited evaluation rounds
Now that you have a greater idea of what each platform can do, you pick the best software that will fit right for what you're looking for. All three options will make the judge’s and your applicant’s lives easier, you can’t go wrong!
Still not sure? Each of these options has great customer service so don’t be afraid to ask more questions, you can never be too informed before you make a decision!