Writing a winning AiG Award nomination
Nominations for the 6th AiG Awards are now open. You can nominate yourself or a colleague for an award by completing the AiG Awards nomination form. The nominations period closes at 23:55 on Friday 24 October 2025.
The Analysis in Government (AiG) Awards celebrates the inspirational individuals and outstanding teams doing excellent work in every government department and all the analysis professions across the Civil Service. Competition is always tough, so how do you go about writing a winning nomination? Take a look at our top tips!
Tips for writing a great nomination
When writing your nomination:
- remember that the judges may not be familiar with your topic, so use Plain English — this means writing in short, clear sentences and using everyday words without unnecessary jargon
- spell out any acronyms and abbreviations in full the first time you use them
- explain the Situation, Task, Action and Result of your work — this is also known as the STAR method
- be clear on the award criteria and address each point in your nomination
- include any appropriate links to your work to demonstrate outputs you may want to showcase
- use the summary section to give a brief and engaging overview into your work — this text will be used to describe your work on the Analysis Function website and other channels if you are shortlisted or win an award
- ask someone who is less familiar with the work to have a look at the nomination — they may be able to see where you can explain the work more clearly
- keep within the word count of 1,000 words when writing the detailed description of what was accomplished
Remember that your nomination summary will be published on the Analysis Function website, which is public-facing.
If you choose to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete your nomination, we recommend checking the text to make sure it is accurate and meets the award criteria.
The nomination form
Nominations for the 6th AiG Awards are now open. You can nominate yourself or a colleague for an award by completing the AiG Awards nomination form. The nominations period closes at 23:55 on Friday 24 October 2025.
You will need to provide the following on your nomination form:
- your name, job title, department, contact details and profession so that we can contact you about your nomination
- the title of the work being nominated, along with the name, department and list of contact details for any colleagues you are nominating
- a brief description of the award you are nominating for — this should be a maximum of 150 words
- a description that demonstrates how the nominee achieves excellence in one of the six award categories, considering the award criteria — this should be no longer than 1000 words and should include links to any online evidence of the work to support your entry
If you would like to draft your application before you complete the online form you can download a Word version of the nomination form (NB, link to be added).
If you have any questions about the nomination form you can email the team at Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk.
Make sure your fantastic colleagues get the recognition they deserve
Who do you think of when you consider the stand-out achievements of the last year? We all know people who go above and beyond with their work. It’s time to celebrate those influential team players, and enthusiastic and engaged colleagues who can always be relied upon to produce the highest calibre work.
We recommend telling colleagues if you plan to nominate them. This is not compulsory, but it is usually best to let them know so they are not caught off-guard if they are shortlisted. It’s also an opportunity to let them know that fantastic work they have done! All information will be processed according to our privacy notice.
How it feels to be nominated
“Nominating yourself, or your colleagues, for an award gives your work recognition, helps you to celebrate and feel proud of the work you produce…we were so proud to win…Accepting our award and giving a speech at the celebration event was a special moment in my career” — Helen Heard and her team, Food Standards Agency
“I smile every time I see my certificate!” — Esther Roughsedge, Head of Population and Migration Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Scottish Government
“It was a really special moment to win, you feel nervous as you know you’ve been nominated, and you see all the amazing other people across government that are in your category. The feeling when you win is amazing, as it’s such a lovely affirming surprise” — Catherine Hutchinson, Evaluation Task Force
Read about previous winners and find more inspiration in our AiG Awards Hall of Fame.
The importance of saying “thank you”
These highly esteemed awards recognise the best of the best. They give colleagues and teams exposure at the highest level and provide the ultimate way to give thanks for their contributions over the last year. Even just being nominated can make a huge positive difference to our colleagues, and make them feel recognised by their peers and managers.