I was thinking about the awards industry the other week. We almost entered a podcast award but decided against it.

Not because Women Talking About Learning isn’t worthy. We hear good things about it all the time.

The issue was value. Looking at past winners and shortlists, our chances of even making the long list felt slim. Not impossible, but not strong. The entry fee tipped the balance.

It wasn’t a big fee. It was affordable. But the value just wasn’t there.

I’ve said before that value is benefit divided by cost. For us, the benefit of being longlisted is small. If we thought a shortlist was likely, then a badge and some publicity would pay for itself. If we had a bigger team, preparing an entry might have been a good exercise in reflection.

But value is always in the eye of the beholder.

The lesson? Know the value up front. Don’t convince yourself afterwards that it was worth it.