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Using AI to write a Civil Service Awards nomination

Writing a nomination can feel daunting, but AI tools can help you get started, structure your thinking, and make the most of the 600 words available to you. This guide shows you how.

Before you start: a few important rules

Only use AI tools that have been approved by your department for handling work-related information. Do not paste in personal data about colleagues – names, grades, and identifying details – without checking your department’s guidance first. AI can help you find the words, but the facts, examples, and outcomes must come from you. Always read through and fact-check everything before you submit.

Step 1: Work out what you want to say

Before you open any AI tool, spend five minutes jotting down answers to these questions:

  • What did this person or team actually do?
  • What was the situation they were working in – was it difficult, time-pressured, or complex?
  • What difference did it make? Are there any numbers, stats, or measurable outcomes you can point to?
  • Did they go beyond what was expected of them?
  • How did this benefit people outside their immediate team – colleagues, citizens, or government more broadly?

If you have an evaluation report from the project or piece of work you want to nominate, this can be a goldmine of ready-made evidence. Try uploading it to your approved AI tool and use this prompt:

“Here is an evaluation report for a project I want to nominate for a Civil Service Award. Please pull out the key outcomes, measurable results, and examples of impact that would be most relevant to a nomination. I am particularly interested in anything that shows what changed, what was achieved, and any figures or statistics that demonstrate success.”

You can then use the AI’s summary as the basis for answering the questions above, rather than starting from scratch.

You don’t need polished sentences at this stage. Notes and bullet points are fine. This is the raw material that will make your nomination stand out. AI cannot invent this for you, but it can help you shape it.

Step 2: Choose your category

If you are not sure which category fits, try this prompt:

“I want to nominate a colleague for a Civil Service Award. Here is a brief description of what they did: [paste your notes]. Based on these categories [list the categories and criteria from the website] which would be the best fit and why?”

This can help you make a more confident decision before you start writing.

Step 3: Draft your overview

The nomination form asks for a short overview (around 100 words) summarising why your nominee deserves to win. Try this prompt:

“Help me write a 100-word overview for a Civil Service Award nomination. The nominee is being put forward for the [category name] Award. Here is what they did: [paste your notes], and here is the category criteria (paste criteria from website)The overview should be punchy, specific, and make clear why this person went above and beyond.”

Read the result carefully. Make sure it accurately reflects what happened and sounds like something a real person would write.

Step 4: Draft your STAR statement

The main section of the nomination uses the STAR format – Situation, Task, Action, Result. This should be around 500 words. Use this prompt:

“Help me write a 500-word STAR nomination statement for a Civil Service Award. Here are my notes on what happened: [paste your notes]. Please structure it as: Situation (what was the context and challenge), Task (what needed to be done), Action (what the nominee specifically did – focus on their individual contribution), Result (what the measurable outcome was and why it mattered). The tone should be professional but human. Avoid vague phrases like ‘passionate’ or ‘dedicated’, use specific examples instead and ensure it provides evidence against this criteria (paste category criteria).”

Step 5: Check the draft against the criteria

Once you have a draft, use AI to sense-check it before you submit:

“Here is my draft Civil Service Award nomination for the [category name] Award. Here are the judging criteria for that category: [paste the criteria]. Please tell me which criteria are well evidenced, which are weak or missing, and suggest specific improvements.”

This is one of the most useful things AI can do, acting as a critical friend before the nomination goes in.

Step 6: Tighten the language

If your draft is over the word count or feels a bit flat, try:

“Please edit this nomination to be more concise and impactful, keeping it under [word count]. Remove any vague language and make sure every sentence earns its place. Do not change any of the facts.”

A few tips for getting the best results:

The more specific your notes, the better the output. “She improved the process” will produce a weak draft. “She reduced processing time from 14 days to 3 days by redesigning the triage system, saving an estimated 400 staff hours” will produce a strong one.

If the first draft does not feel right, tell the AI what is wrong rather than starting again, for example: “This sounds too formal” or “The Action section doesn’t capture what made her approach different.”

AI tends to over-use certain phrases. Watch out for words like “passionate”, “dedicated”, “leveraged”, and “impactful”, replace them with specific descriptions of what the person actually did.

Always do a final read-through yourself. You know your nominee. Make sure the nomination sounds like it was written by someone who genuinely believes in them – because it was.

The Civil Service Awards is a highly respected and prestigious cross-government programme, recognising and celebrating the wealth of inspirational individuals and innovative projects within the Civil Service. For the last 20 years, these unique and empowering awards have helped to spread best practice right across government, sharing innovation, learning and leadership.

The Civil Service Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate excellence across the UK Civil Service, aligning with our priorities of delivering outstanding public service, driving efficiency, and building capability. Our 20th anniversary marks an update in the categories and criteria, reflecting on the government’s objectives the Civil Service shall deliver on. Each category is championed by two Senior Civil Servants, who are proud supporters of the awards and bring their expertise to the judging process. These category champions will also promote their specific category to colleagues through networks across government to encourage quality nominations from all parts of the Civil Service. Our champions also ensure their expert judging panel supports them in reviewing the thousands of nominations, and select the very best to be put forward as finalists.

The finalist announcement will take place on 22 October 2025.

And finally, the winners will be announced at the Civil Service Awards 2025 ceremony, taking place in December 2025.

Join our online community

The Civil Service Awards Community is an online space where you can hear past winners’ experiences, learn more about the awards themselves, and hear from our category champions. This is a place to learn from all the good practice that we celebrate through the awards, and to be inspired by the many people and teams who have won over the past 20 years.

Follow us @UKCivilService and join the conversation #CSAwards