Best practices for winning a Microsoft Partner of the Year award

Writing a Microsoft award submission is not like any other form of corporate writing. It’s not a white paper. It’s not a case study. It’s a competition—and one where judges are actively looking for reasons to disqualify your submission during the first read-through. The bar is high, the attention spans are short, and the competition is fierce.

Eight best practices to stand out in a sea of submissions

If you want to stand out, here’s what it takes:

1. Tell a story that captures the imagination

At its core, your submission needs to tell a compelling story—one that puts you and your customer at the center and showcases your unique value as a partner. What problem did you solve? What made it complex? Why was your approach exceptional? What are the things that would never make it in a Win Wire or a Case Study but really show that you know your stuff and can overcome hurdles. Microsoft wants to see transformation, not just implementation.

2. Treat it like a strategy, not a form

Before you start writing, get crystal clear on why you’re submitting and what you want to achieve:

• • How can you win in the category you are going after?
  • Is your entry less about winning and more about positioning with Microsoft?
  • Should you consider a joint strategy with another partner?

Every submission needs a positioning strategy. Be intentional about the categories you choose and how your story supports that category’s specific goals.

3. Start messy—and don’t despair

The process always begins in the messy middle. Start by gathering your best stories—and be prepared for surprises. Often, the stories you think are the strongest won’t be the ones that make the cut. Talk to your sales and delivery teams. Get the story behind the story—the moments of innovation, impact, and resilience that often go undocumented.

Once you’ve collected your stories, map them to Microsoft’s award categories. With 5,000+ submissions across just 45 categories, repurposing stories into multiple submissions is smart strategy. And remember: the first few drafts will be rough. That’s part of the process. You’re shaping and refining, over and over, until the narrative is tight and aligned with Microsoft’s criteria.

4. Answer every question—clearly and completely

Each award category includes specific criteria—and every one of them matters. If you skip a question, dodge the point, or bury your answer in jargon, you risk being tossed aside immediately. Make it easy for the judges to see that you’ve hit every required point, clearly and confidently.

5. Back up every claim with proof

This is where many submissions fall short. You can’t just say you drove impact—you need to prove it:

• • Include numbers (revenue, time saved, users impacted, % improvement, etc.) If your actual numbers aren’t the best, consider percentages. Trying to compete just on numbers is the wrong strategy – there will always be a partner with a better number than you – you need a mix and a spin.
  • Add testimonials from customers, Microsoft reps, other partners, analysts – tell your story through the eyes of others whenever you can.
  • Share architectures, screenshots, or visuals that demonstrate innovation – you only have about 1,200 words and a lot of questions to answer. Your architectures can demonstrate your complexity – where possibly, point out where you did something amazing or unusual – for example, found a product release bug and worked with MSFT engineering to resolve. Accelerated a feature on your product roadmap to facilitate a customer roll-out.
  • Provide measurable outcomes tied to business value. Most partners say they don’t really know the value yet, too new to measure, customer is reluctant to get behind a number. That won’t win you the award, you need to find a way to show the value. Understanding how to measure value and then demonstrate that it was achieved is a critical point.

If it’s not provable, it’s just words on paper.

6. Write for a mixed audience

Your judges will include technical architects, marketers, partner managers, and even interns. Many are not technical. Write at a high enough level that anyone at Microsoft can understand the significance of your work and the business impact you delivered—without getting lost in acronyms or complexity.

7. Keep the review team small (and sharp)

Too many reviewers spoil the story. Awards submissions are unlike anything else you’ve written. You will include information that will never ever be used publicly. The entire team needs to be on board. You need a tight, experienced team—ideally 2–3 people—who understand Microsoft, the partner ecosystem, and how to evaluate a strong narrative. Awards writing is a team sport. Partners know their solutions and the award writers know how to tell a story that pops. This is the team that can come together and refine a strong message.

As part of the review process:

• • Use accessible, plainspoken language. If your sentence sounds like it came from your website or a press release, rewrite it. Clarity beats polish.
  • Consider using humor or a conversational tone—just enough to make the story memorable. The best submissions feel human.
  • Make sure the headlines tell the story. Judges will skim before they dive—your headings should give them a reason to keep reading.
  • Read it out loud. If it doesn’t sound like something a person would say, go back and simplify. Try to make the judges FEEL something – make them laugh, make them cry, make them remember you.

Remember, the goal to connect. Make your message easy to understand and hard to ignore. There will be about 300 submissions in each category. The first read through by the judges is to THROW OUT the worst submissions – they are barely read at all. You want to make it to the top 10-20 where the submissions are seriously considered and vetted.

8. Refine, map, repeat

Award submissions are an iterative, collaborative process. Each draft should bring the story into tighter focus and map more clearly to the award criteria. Keep asking: “Is this easy to read? Does it show impact? Have we made our proof points impossible to ignore?”

Final thoughts

Microsoft award submissions are judged by people. They are impacted by story and by how you have taken a unique position to drive transformation that will ultimately show up on their score card and pay check.

Judges don’t have time to dig for your value. Be bold. Be strategic. Be specific. And above all, tell a story that no one else can tell.

Additional Microsoft Partner of the Year award resources

1. How to create a great Microsoft award submission
2. Part 1: How to win a Microsoft Partner of the Year award
3. Part 2: How to win a Microsoft Partner of the Year award
4. Part 3: How to win a Microsoft Partner of the Year award
5. The winning recipe 
6. The best time to write your submission
7. daXai Microsoft awards module