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Accept an Award on Behalf of an Applicant

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Micall Searles
Micall Searles
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Contents

Overview

This guide shows Program Admins how to turn on Accept Award for a cycle and accept awards on an applicant's behalf in Next. 

What is the Accept Award Feature?

Accept Award lets a Program Owner accept an award on an applicant's behalf, instead of waiting for the applicant to accept or decline it themselves. 

  • Common use cases:
    • Your applicants are organizations or institutions where someone else handles award paperwork, and you don't want the process held up waiting on their acceptance.
    • You're running a compressed timeline (e.g., a fiscal year-end cycle) and can't afford delays from unresponsive awardees.
    • You've already confirmed acceptance outside of Next — over email or phone — and just need the system to reflect it.
       
  • Who can accept awards for applicants?
    • Program Owners ONLY

Any program admin can enable the Accept Award feature in Cycle Settings, but only Program Owners can accept an award on the applicant’s behalf. 

 

⚠️Important Notes

  • Duplicating a cycle copies the Accept Award setting too. If Accept Award was enabled in the cycle you copied, it'll be enabled for the new one. If it was not enabled, it will be disabled in the copied cycle, too. 
     
  • Turning the toggle off doesn't undo past acceptances. Any awards already accepted on an applicant's behalf stay accepted. Only awards not yet acted on switch back to the standard “Notify” flow.

➜ Accept Award vs. Direct Awarding

  • Accept Award and Direct Awarding are separate features and aren't meant to be enabled together on the same cycle. Direct Awarding already has its own way of finalizing awards, using the Accept and Notify Recipient action on imported awardees. Learn more ➡️Direct Awarding.

    Because of this:
    • If Direct Awarding is ON, the Accept Award toggle in Workflow Options will be disabled.
    • If Accept Award is ON, Direct Awarding can't also be enabled.

➜ Accept Award and Docusign

  • Accept Award works even if the award agreement has a Docusign envelope attached. Accepting on the applicant's behalf skips the Docusign process entirely — no envelope is sent, and nothing will appear in Envelope Management for that award.
⚠ If you need a signed agreement on file for compliance or audit purposes, do not use the Accept Award feature for that recipient. Notify them instead so the signing process runs as expected. Learn more about Docusign here ➡️ Docusign Integration for Award Agreements.

 

Before You Begin

To accept an award for an applicant, “Accept Award” must be turned on in your Cycle Settings.  

How to Turn On “Accept Award”

  1. Open the program, then click the gear icon on the far right of the cycle to open Cycle Settings. 


     
  2. Click Workflow in the top menu, then select Workflow Options from the left menu.


     
  3. At the bottom of the Workflow Options screen, toggle Accept Award to Enabled. 


     
  4. Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner of the screen. 

  • A confirmation message appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen. 

Step-By-Step Instructions 

⚠ The applicant must have a saved award offer before you can accept it. If you haven't saved an award offer for the applicant yet, follow the steps in ➡️ Assign Award Offers to Recipients.

How to Accept an Award on Behalf of an Applicant

Go to the Awarding Page

  1. In the program, click the cycle name to open the cycle. 


     
  2. Click Awarding in the left-hand menu.

 

Accept a Single Award 

  1. On the Awarding page, find the applicant whose award you want to accept. 

If you need to make any changes to the award agreement before accepting, click the hyperlinked agreement name in the Award Agreement column, and edit it on the screen that opens.

Note: You cannot edit the award agreement after accepting on behalf of the applicant. After that, you must use the amendment process to make changes.

 

3. In the confirmation pop-up, click Accept. 


 

Accept Multiple Awards in Bulk

  1. On the Awarding page, find the applicant(s) whose award(s) you want to accept. 


     
  2. Select the checkboxes to the left of each award you want to accept. 


     
  3. Click the Accept button in the upper-right corner of the screen.


     
  4. In the confirmation pop-up, click Accept. 


     
  • A confirmation message appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
     

What Happens After You Accept an Award on Behalf of an Applicant?

  • Email Notification: The awardee receives an automatic email notifying them that their award status has been updated. When they login to their portal, the award will show an “Accepted” status. When they view the award, they can see the accepted award agreement and post-award activities (if applicable). 

ⓘ This email is set up by default, under the trigger Notify in the Award stage. To remove this email or edit the template, see ➡️ How to Manage Your Email Communications Setup + How to Manage Your Email Communications Template Library.
  • Status Updates: On the admin side, the award status changes to “Accepted.” 



     
  • Activity History Recorded: The award acceptance is recorded in the award’s activity history. Click the clock icon next to an award’s status to see a full timeline of activity.

 

Related Articles

➡️Designate Award Offers and Agreements
➡️Creating and Publishing Award Agreement Templates


 


 

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