How does Sitecore MVP feedback email look like?

I received my Sitecore Technology MVP title for the year 2025 for community contribution. You can check my contributions, i submitted as part of my MVP application form, in this post. This is my fourth title. This year, I'm one of 172 technology MVPs selected from applications across the world. While my LI post is still brimming with messages, i felt it would be good to write a few pointers for future MVP aspirants and hence this blog post.

When would i receive confirmation email about my title?

Although this is my fourth year, it is still customary for me to keep refreshing my inbox in january-end to the extent that the touch pad gets dented. Usually the public announcement about the list of MVPs gets out on 31st January of every year. A couple of days ahead of the public announcement, a personal email is sent to the address that you register as part of filling your MVP application form. It is good to give your personal email address as part of filling your MVP application application form that too if you are in-between jobs while the results come out. This year, the confirmation email was sent on 27/jan/2025 while the public announcement was made on 30th january, quite earlier than last year. You have to keep this whole thing a secret until the press release. So, if you are bad at keeping secrets, this is the first test for you since MVPs will time and again get first updates about product release etc., unbeknown to rest of the community. On the other hand, the feedback emails usually come after the public announcement is made. So, the short answer for this question is, based on trend, the confirmation email for Sitecore MVP title would be sent between 27th-28th jan.

Trend based on various years:

How to deal with a negative MVP result?

Once the results are out in the end of January, one of the most common questions somebody might get is - Why me, why was i rejected?  Feelings of despair/negativity are very common when you have pinned all hopes on a title for about 2 months and then you don't receive the title. It is indeed human to feel that everything is wrong with the review process. The best way to overcome this is, think that the title isn't a make or break situation. For instance, if you have the raw basics in life like a job/career/family, then title is just a supplementary part of your profile. So, just take a break for a couple of days and concentrate on writing a blog post or preparing for a SUG session talk or a video via your own youtube channel. These things not only improve your state of mind but also put you on-track with honing your skills/career goals, making you feel positive.

How to plan for a well-rounded MVP application?

One of the things I have heard from experienced MVPs regarding rejected MVP applications is, lack of quality. There is also another way of looking at that feedback - applicants usually concentrate on one area and miss out on others. For instance, first time when I submitted my application, most of my contributions were on blog posts. At the end of the year, when I was filling the application I realised that areas like public speaking were blank. That is when i realised that it is better to put eggs in multiple baskets than all in one basket. For instance, your strong point might be writing. So, no harm in contributing in your area of strength/comfort-ability but keep in mind that on any day, a rounded-application that covers all areas like public speaking, blog posts, product feedback looks better than one that is lop-sided. So, better create a schedule right at the start of the year and this schedule could be useful to plan on topics as well as contact user groups for presentation slots. 

Technology Contribution areas for reference:

Code 

Blog Post 

Social media 

Product feedback

References

Video / Public Speaking

Others

How often should i contribute?

While it might not be possible for someone with family to blog every weekend, plan and distribute your contributions all through the year. In fact, start blogging consistently from a year ahead, if you are aiming for the title in the next couple of years. Reviewers value consistency  and perseverance more than anything. One of the common reviewer statements is, "contributions have been done only for the last xx months". Aim not to be that applicant, aim for consistency instead. 

What is it about good quality contributions?

The Sitecore MVP application review panel always highlights and values good quality contributions over quantity of contributions. This is a bit tricky to understand. A couple of steps backward - Good quality according to me is based on community usefulness, uniqueness, product feedback, depth of analysis, length, technical workaround in case of a product glitch etc. - although these are slightly overlapping, a good quality contribution must have more than one of these parameters.  Most importantly, don't copy/paste ChatGPT-generated content into your blog posts. Reviewers are smart enough to find such content. It is good to aim for at least one good quality entry for every month. In my case, although I "might" jot down 4 blog notes every month, since blogging is also my hobby apart from aiming for the title, I don't expect all of them to come out as high quality. In other words, the reviewers might not rate all those as high quality. On the other hand, writing multiple blog posts in a month or year gives me a chance to pick and choose from those blog posts at the end of the year. So, although i might have more than 10 blog posts at the end of the year, I will make my own list of top 10 posts based on reach/length and add the link in my application.

How important is community rapport?

Let's keep this clean. No one in the community is paid for writing blog posts every weekend or in their free time. If you think every win or gain someone has is all because of the title, it is your perception. Knowledge and experience stays always on top of titles. Since everyone in the MVP community is career-driven, goal-oriented and passionate, rapport/mutual respect is very important. Also, the community is very small. Since the Sitecore community is what binds you with them, learn to reach-out to people and maintain a good relationship. Congratulate people whole-heartedly. This way, you don't have to run around people at the end of the year before submitting your application. 

What is the best way to stay active in the community?

The Sitecore community spans across the world. So, you need to become a brand of your own. One of the most easy ways to accomplish this is, staying active in the Sitecore slack channel. Post questions as well as try to answer questions on a weekly basis if not on a daily-basis. Although some people would rate Sitecore Stack Exchange as a better platform, out of all the social media platforms, I would rate the Sitecore Slack channel as the one with the highest reach because of the obvious reason that if you present yourself daily and make a sincere attempt to present useful answers in the different groups, people will recognise your application very easily at the end of the year. Moreover, if you read discussion threads in these groups, your expertise is bound to get better since you are indirectly spending time on self-improvement. Also, don't miss to participate in the yearly Sitecore hackathon. The preparation for the hackathon itself, if you do it diligently, is a good exercise - Not to mention the fact that submitting a contribution in those few hours of stipulated time will automatically tick boxes like technical capability and team player. If you personally ask me, the hackathon is challenging but is a free-pass compared with Sitecore paper presentations since there are no filtering criteria to participate in the hackathon.

How important is career progression with regard to the application?

Although there might not be anything directly linking to career growth, any kind of references from the client definitely could be useful. Also, if you can move countries as part of your work and contribute from a different country, you definitely improve your chance since it is good to have MVPs distributed across different geographic locations.

How important is presentation of contributions?

In 2023, when my application was rejected, I was plainly surprised since I had done better contribution compared to the earlier years - esp., Sitecore 10 certification video was released on 21 Feb 2022. Based on the feedback email(attached below), i realised that I had missed out on one of the most important parameters called presentation. 

While good quality contributions are important, it is equally important to present those well in your application form in a nice format - tabular column where necessary. Spend a couple of weekends, writing and re-writing your application. Write how you feel since reviewers like personal touch rather than AI-generated messages.  You could lose your title if you have done everything that year but didn't present those in the application form. In other words, don't be complacent about presentation of your achievements. It is equally important as much as the actual contributions since no one has time to check and give you benefit of doubt if you haven't presented what you have done. 

As part of the Sitecore MVP Mentor-mentee  program, Sitecore (Credit: Tamas Varga and Nicole Montero) provides this contribution tracker, which is such a useful tool to plan and track community contribution and progress, irrespective of if you are a mentor or mentee.

How can I prepare for the next MVP title?

Once you get the first title, preparing or readying your application for the next time might be slightly different. After the first title, you would get a few more options to contribute:

Volunteer to be part of the mentor-mentee program

Volunteer to review MVP applications in the year-end

Keep a lookout on monthly MVP emails, there are so many options in there to contribute

How does the feedback email look like?

Here is the content of my feedback email from 2023 for reference since it has some vital inputs for a good application:

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Dear Navaneethakrishnan Sundarrajan,

Thank you for your efforts in the Sitecore Community!

All the Sitecore MVP nominations were reviewed by an independent panel of Sitecore employees from regional offices, corporate and executive roles and for new applicants also existing MVPs. Every applicant was reviewed on average by 4 reviewers.

We are sorry to inform you that you were not awarded as a Sitecore MVP in 2023.

We review all the application based on 4 areas:

• Content includes Blogs, Videos, Podcasts, White papers, Case studies, Open-source modules.
• Engagement includes social media activities, Community Forum answers, Slack, StackExchange, etc.
• Public Speaking includes presentations at events like Sitecore User Groups, SUGCON, Symposium, industry conferences, webinars.
• Feedback/References includes Support tickets, Product feedback through MVP channels or to PMs directly, beta testing products and trainings, customer references, Customer Success Manager recommendations, Partner Advisory Council or Customer Leadership Board membership.

Your average review score in these areas were the following:

	Content	Engagement	Public Speaking	Feedback/References
Quality	unacceptable	meets expectations	below expectations	unacceptable
Quantity	meets expectations	meets expectations	unacceptable	unacceptable
Visibility	meets expectations	meets expectations	below expectations	unacceptable

 

Advice for this year

Keep up the good work month-by-month, not just around the MVP nominations. When you blog, it is not only the quantity, but mainly the quality what matters. Before blogging about something please check if someone else has already wrote about that topic and reference it while adding something new to it. Community.sitecore.net is our base where Sitecore enthusiasts are connected. We are upgrading it this year to deliver a better experience for everyone. Sitecore Slack channels are there for you for more than a year, please be present in there also. Sitecore Stack Exchange is the opportunity for everyone to ask questions and to share your knowledge and experience. Make sure to participate in the forums and help your fellow community members. If you can, consider contributing to an open source module or start a new project yourself. Being at User Groups or conferences are always great, but speaking is the real opportunity to share your expertise. Read more about “How can I connect with the Sitecore Community?” at the Sitecore Stack Exchange.

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