Best Free Free tools for award PR tracking Tools
Free tools for award PR tracking
Award campaign tracking requires coordination across nomination deadlines, ceremony dates, press coverage and social metrics. Rather than juggling spreadsheets and missed alerts, the right free tools automate the monitoring and keep your team aligned when every hour counts in the post-nomination press window.
Collaborative spreadsheet tool for building custom award tracking dashboards, timeline calendars and nomination status sheets accessible in real-time across your PR team.
Free tier: Fully free for unlimited sheets and collaborators with a Google account. No paid version needed for most PR teams.
Best for: Creating a centralised award campaign calendar with nomination deadlines, ceremony dates, voting close dates and key press windows for all your campaigns in one place.
Database and workspace tool that lets you build custom award campaign trackers with linked databases for nominations, press contacts, coverage tracking and timeline milestones.
Free tier: Free plan includes unlimited blocks and pages for individual users and small teams. Paid plans unlock team features but free tier covers most solo and small team needs.
Best for: Building an integrated award campaign workspace where press hits, social mentions, nomination status and ceremony dates all connect in one searchable database.
Low-code database platform for creating relational award tracking systems with forms for data entry, galleries for visual progress tracking and automation without coding.
Free tier: Free tier includes limited records and limited automations. Sufficient for tracking single campaigns or small numbers of nominations before upgrade needed.
Best for: Setting up a lightweight but powerful tracking system where you can link nomination records to press contact lists and automatically log coverage hits as they happen.
Free email alerts whenever new search results match your custom keywords, delivering press mentions of your artist, award name or category directly to your inbox.
Free tier: Completely free. No premium version. Unlimited alerts, daily or as-it-happens delivery.
Best for: Tracking all press coverage and online mentions the moment your artist or award receives coverage, ensuring you never miss a win or mention to amplify.
Automation tool that connects different apps together with simple if-then rules, allowing you to auto-log press mentions, social posts or notifications into your tracking spreadsheet.
Free tier: Free plan includes 2 applets with limited triggers. Pay-as-you-go model offers good value for PR teams needing more complex automations.
Best for: Automatically logging Twitter mentions of your award category or artist into a shared spreadsheet, creating a real-time social buzz tracker without manual data entry.
Built-in Twitter search allowing you to filter by account, date range, engagement levels and replies to find all discussion of specific award categories or artist nominations.
Free tier: Completely free. No account needed for basic searches, logged in account gives access to advanced filters.
Best for: Monitoring social conversation around award categories, tracking sentiment and engagement when nominations drop, and identifying influential voices discussing your artist.
RSS feed aggregator that centralises news coverage from music publications, blogs and trade outlets, searchable and sortable by publication, date and keyword.
Free tier: Free tier includes up to 100 feeds with basic organisation. Sufficient for monitoring major UK music publications covering your award categories.
Best for: Creating a curated feed of award coverage from key music publications like Music Week, NME and Clash, allowing you to spot trends in how awards are being covered.
Simple form builder for collecting structured data from your PR team, such as press outreach attempts, contact responses and coverage logged in real-time.
Free tier: Completely free. Responses automatically populate into a linked Google Sheet for easy analysis and filtering.
Best for: Creating a simple daily logging system where your team records press pitches sent, responses received and coverage secured, all feeding into one searchable sheet.
Email marketing platform with free tier allowing you to build and send award campaign press releases to your contact list with open and click tracking.
Free tier: Free for up to 500 contacts and 1000 emails per month. Includes basic analytics on open rates and link clicks to measure press release performance.
Best for: Distributing award announcements (nominations, wins, shortlists) to your press contacts and tracking which journalists opened and engaged with your announcements.
Shared calendar tool for plotting all award deadlines, nomination announcement dates, ceremony dates and key press windows, with reminders sent to your team.
Free tier: Completely free. Unlimited calendars, unlimited events, full sharing and notification features.
Best for: Creating a shared team calendar where every award deadline, voting close date and ceremony is visible to your entire team with automated reminders 2-4 weeks in advance.
Design tool with free templates for creating award-related social media graphics, press kit covers and campaign announcement visuals without requiring a designer.
Free tier: Free version includes thousands of templates and millions of stock images. Pro version unlocks brand kits and advanced features but free tier handles most award campaign graphics.
Best for: Quickly producing on-brand social graphics for nomination announcements and wins that match your artist's existing visual identity without waiting for design turnaround.
Content research tool with limited free access allowing you to search which articles about your award category ranked highest on social and which publications drove the most engagement.
Free tier: Free version includes 5 searches per month. Useful for spotting patterns in award coverage but limited for ongoing campaign tracking. Paid plans unlock unlimited searches.
Best for: Analysing which publications and article angles about your award category generate the most social engagement, informing your own press angle strategy.
The strongest award campaigns are tracked obsessively — not because it looks good, but because the data tells you where to double down and where press momentum exists. These free tools handle the boring work so you can focus on what actually drives coverage: knowing who influences the conversation and reaching them at exactly the right moment.
Frequently asked questions
Which tool should we choose as our main tracking system — Google Sheets, Notion or Airtable?
Google Sheets is fastest to set up and handles most award campaigns without learning a new platform, making it ideal if you're starting immediately. Notion offers more visual flexibility and linked databases if you run multiple campaigns simultaneously across artists. Airtable sits between them and works best if you need lightweight automation to log data without manual entry.
How do we capture press coverage in real-time without manually checking every publication?
Set up Google Alerts for your artist name plus each award name, then create a Google Form your team logs into whenever coverage is found, feeding directly into a Google Sheet. Alternatively, if you're tracking social buzz specifically, use Twitter Advanced Search saved queries and check them twice daily, or use IFTTT to auto-log mentions into a sheet if you're comfortable with automation.
What's the smartest way to organise a tracking sheet for multiple award campaigns running simultaneously?
Use separate tabs within one Google Sheet for each award, with a master timeline tab showing all deadlines and key dates across campaigns. Include columns for nomination status, press contacts pitched, coverage logged, social mentions and follow-up actions. This keeps everything in one place while preventing spreadsheet chaos.
How early should we start tracking award deadlines?
Nominate campaigns should be in your tracking system at least six months before submission deadlines, ideally twelve months for major awards like the Grammys or Brits. This gives you time to plan your press strategy, identify target outlets and build relationships before the nomination crunch when everyone is pitching at once.
Can we automate sending a team reminder every time an award ceremony date or voting deadline approaches?
Yes — add all dates to a shared Google Calendar with reminders set for four weeks, two weeks and one week before each deadline, and make sure your whole team is subscribed to that calendar. Alternatively, use Notion's database reminder features or set up IFTTT to send you a Slack message at specific dates if your team uses Slack.
Related resources
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The professional platform for UK music PR agencies. Contact intelligence, pitch drafting, and campaign tracking — without the spreadsheets.