OpenWater Awards Reviews in July 2026: User Ratings, Pros & Cons

Excellent Customer Service since Day 1 and after working with 2+ Staff Members!

What do you like best? Ease of managing and communicating with both juudges & applicants Ease in pulling reports from system Ease in updating outward facing webpage What do you dislike? I dislike that I can't customize how I'd like to pull reports as System Admin I dislike that I can't customize the outward facing webpage to be more appealing as a System Admin. What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? Having a place for members to apply to my ...

Intuitive and Powerful Application Software

What do you like best? Applications are very intuitive and easy to build (even with layers of complexity and if/then processes, and judging options are very customizable, reporting options are extensive and detailed. I did not have any experience building an application and do not come from a technical background, but I was able to build our application without issues due to the ease of using the program and the prompt and helpful assistance of customer support. What do you dislike? I ...

Used OpenWater for abstract submission and voting

What do you like best? The customer service is unlike any other vendor we have used. Attentive, responsive and extremely helpful What do you dislike? some reports are difficult to customize What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? We had many issues with our last abstract vendor. Submissions were easier for out attendees, program and schedule building was amazing and really benefited us when we designed out program book and meeting app.

Best Awards Platform Ever

What do you like best? I have used many application submission systems and OpenWater exceeds our expectations. Every time I reach out to OpenWater with a complex task they quickly provide a solution. I have never been told that something isn't possible. Single Sign On is seamless which has always been a challenge with other solutions. What do you dislike? I would like to use OpenWater for our entire annual meeting project (Logistics, Faculty Management, Abstract Submission, etc but the ...

Overhauled out 30+ years old awards program!

What do you like best? The ease of set up - we are a nonprofit so the amount of technical expertise is limited. However we were able to set up the program and administer it easily. We also love the instant support - the chat function is really humans interacting with you and even giving you moral support when you feel stuck. There are a bunch of workarounds available and the support team was so helpful in meeting our quirky needs at times. Without the limitation of number of entries, form ...

Open Water Review

What do you like best? I like that once I setup an award/program in Open Water I can duplicate that same program every year and just update my reviewers and specific details such as deadlines and instructions. The system also allows me to keep all my communications to reviewers and applicants in one place. What do you dislike? Not much a dislike but (perhaps I don't know, I would like more information on how to customize the look and feel of the application/evaluation forms for my users' ...

Amazing Customer Support

What do you like best? Flexibility when setting up forms and email contact automation features. What do you dislike? Some things are not intuitive. Cannot apply bulk commands in every view. What business problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized? The account rep assigned to us was very responsive by getting back to me quickly and customized solutions for our needs. Took our grant application online after 25 years of using strictly paper applications ...