Sessionboard vs AwardForce.
AwardForce runs awards and grants review season by season, and each season ends in a CSV. Sessionboard Awards connects winners, reviewers, and nominees to conference speaker CRM that persists year over year — same people as abstract authors, session faculty, and advocates; one record on the program record with transcription, Content Gallery, and Advocacy when awards and meetings should not reset in a CSV each cycle.
SIDE BY SIDE
Where each one does its work.
Read from the approved comparison, not from a feature checklist. Where we could not verify a AwardForce capability from their own material, the cell says so.
| Capability | Sessionboard | AwardForce |
|---|---|---|
| Awards and nominations | Nominations, review rounds and winner showcases on the same forms, review plans and portals as sessions. | Multi-category review, eligibility rules, and winner communications. Applicant and reviewer portals tuned for awards-only programs. |
| Awards without a meeting | Awards runs on its own or beside the annual meeting, on the same record either way. | Procurement buying awards without a conference module mandate. |
| Review rounds and rubrics | Review plans with rounds, committees, rubrics and conflict-of-interest rules. Your team changes forms and review steps without a services ticket. | varies |
| Nominee and reviewer portals | Nominee and reviewer portals on the same branded portals as speakers; the Coordinator agent reminds whoever is late. | varies |
| Call for papers beside awards | Submission forms with logic per track and format; abstracts, disclosures and files on one submission. Returning speakers arrive with their history. | varies |
| Ceremony and winner content | Live Transcribe in the room or from Zoom, ON24 and Goldcast; transcripts, captions, clips and quote cards in a library searchable across events. | varies |
| Winner promotion with attribution | Share kits with tracked links for speakers, sponsors and attendees; registrations traced back to the share. | varies |
| CRM and AMS | Two-way sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, iMIS, Fonteva and Nimble AMS; public API, webhooks and an MCP server. | varies |
| Registration | Stays where it is. Accepted sessions and speakers sync to Cvent, Swoogo, Bizzabo and others. | varies |
Where AwardForce fits best: grants administration is the sole scope for three-plus years. What often stays with AwardForce for now: legacy awards cycle mid-contract on AwardForce. This page compares workflow and product fit, not a feature checklist.
WHERE IT DIFFERS · ONE RECORD
Nominees, reviewers and winners are the same people as your speakers.
Awards run on the same forms, review plans and portals as sessions, so a winner becomes faculty and a reviewer returns next cycle without a volunteer list rebuilt from email. AwardForce ends a season in an export; the record carries it into the annual meeting.
- Nominations
- Review rounds & rubrics
- Reviewer records persist
- Winner showcases
GROWSMember engagement and non-dues revenue
WHERE IT DIFFERS · WINNERS AS CONTENT
The ceremony is a session. Treat it like one.
Capture the ceremony, clip the acceptance, and hand winners a share kit with a tracked link. Registrations traced to those shares land on the winner’s record and on the attendee who came.
- Live Transcribe
- Clips & quote cards
- Winner share kits
- Registrations traced
GROWSReach from the people you just celebrated
Questions, answered
Does Sessionboard replace AwardForce?
When you want robust awards with member SSO, dedupe, merge, and optional conference on one CRM — yes. AwardForce may stay if you need only a narrow review season with no program record.
Can we start with Awards only?
Yes. Many customers run Awards without a conference. SSO, dedupe, and multi-round review work standalone; add call for papers when ready.
Does Sessionboard support multi-round review?
Yes. Awards review workflows with rubrics and chair tools on the same platform as abstract review.
What about conference abstract review?
Same platform — call for papers, review, speaker portal, and content capture share speaker CRM with Awards.
Can we export everything later?
Yes. Submissions, scores, speakers, agenda, transcripts and media export by CSV, program book export, the public API and webhooks.