Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse (BG ETEM)

12:31 Jun 22, 2016 

I was mainly talking about cases in which abbreviations (acronyms or initialisms) don't play a major role.

It all depends on the type of document. In news articles, I'd certainly recommend you do it the other way around (unless you want people to give up reading after the first paragraph).

Regarding awards, I would proceed in the same way, since your everyday customer (read: tourist from AUS, etc.) may not be impressed by a list of awards in foreign languages. Keyword: Ease of use (and footnotes on hotel websites?).

In your case, I think you've chosen an elegant solution and I would not disagree. As I said, it all depends on what you need it for. There is no hard-and-fast rule, IMO.

11:50 Jun 22, 2016 

Initially, yes, it seems chaotic, but once the reader has accustomed herself to the acronyms, it's quite fluent. this is often the case in dissertations that are funded by numerous institutions, which ALL must named in the preface or in the acknowledgement sections. I solve this by writing the original German name in normal script followed by the acronym in brackets and bold, then comes the English name in parentheses and italics. The bold catches the reader's eye and is then easilyrecognized throughout the text.
MOST awards are international nowadays and do not require explanation, but for those which do, i use footnotes.

11:44 Jun 22, 2016 

Additionally, I was looking for a similar question about whether you should translate the name of an award. I've been trying to convince people that even if there's no abbreviation available, you should put the original German name in parentheses because it is treated as a reference.

I mean what are you going to do if this isn't the only German organization to translate within the sentence? Are you going to turn this sentence into a chaotic collection of EN-DE word pairs?

11:39 Jun 22, 2016 

but only the first time around with the GERMAN acronym following in brackets. The acronym is then used throughout the rest of the text.
However, this sort of thing - finding the English title - is so easily researched, even I can do it.

18:27 Jun 21, 2016 

... on the assumption that (even) the (above-)average Brit/Yank will be totally thrown by anything that looks foreign. My personal preference would be to use "Employer's Liability Insurance Association for ..." followed by "BG ETEM" in brackets. (FWIW a "trade association" is an entirely different animal altogether.)