What makes your menstrual health innovation stand out

If you’re considering applying for the Menstrual Health Innovation award sponsored by Premom but hesitating because you’re not sure your work is “ready” or “impressive enough,” you’re not alone.

Many strong candidates never submit because they’re second-guessing what judges want to see.

The truth is, judges aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for clarity, insight, and genuine potential to make a difference.

A Problem Worth Solving

The first thing judges want to understand is the problem you’re addressing.

Can you articulate it clearly? Do you understand who experiences this problem and why it matters?

Judges are drawn to applications that demonstrate real insight into a specific challenge within menstrual health, whether that’s access barriers, stigma, pain management, diagnosis delays, product safety, education gaps, or something else entirely.

You don’t need to be solving the biggest problem or reaching the most people.

What matters is that you understand your problem deeply and can explain why your particular angle or community matters.

Judges appreciate specificity. An application focused on improving menstrual health education for rural teenagers will often be stronger than one claiming to revolutionize periods for everyone everywhere.

Understanding Your Community

Judges want to see that you understand the people you’re trying to help.

How did you identify this need? Have you spoken with the community you’re serving? What have you learned from them?

The strongest applications show evidence of listening, learning, and adapting based on real feedback rather than assumptions.

This doesn’t require extensive research studies or thousands of user interviews. It might mean you’ve piloted your solution with a small group, gathered honest feedback, and adjusted your approach.

Or perhaps you have lived experience that gives you insight others lack. Judges recognize that proximity to the problem often creates the most thoughtful solutions.

A Thoughtful Approach

Your solution doesn’t need to be complicated or groundbreaking in its technology.

Judges are evaluating whether your approach makes sense given the problem you’ve identified. Does your solution address the root issue or just a symptom?

Have you considered barriers to adoption? Is your approach realistic given available resources?

Innovation can look like a new technology, but it can also look like applying an existing tool in a new context, removing friction from a current process, combining approaches in a novel way, or simply doing something obvious that no one else has bothered to do.

Potential for Impact

Judges want to understand what success looks like for your innovation.

If your solution works as intended, what changes? How many people does it reach? What outcomes improve?

You don’t need proven impact at scale, but you do need a credible theory about how your work creates positive change.

Early-stage innovations can demonstrate potential through pilot results, user testimonials, or logical reasoning about how the solution addresses the problem.

Judges are comfortable evaluating potential rather than demanding proof. They understand that many innovations need recognition and support to reach the stage where they can demonstrate measurable impact.

Why Your Work Matters

Finally, judges want to feel why this matters to you and why it should matter to them.

What drives your work in menstrual health? Why does this particular problem need solving? What would change if more people paid attention to this issue?

This isn’t about dramatic storytelling. It’s about helping judges understand the significance of your work within the broader landscape of menstrual health.

Your passion and commitment come through when you can clearly articulate not just what you’re doing, but why it matters.