This is all Step 2, after you optained the data. For Step 1: A form would be really helpful, as it would generate a structure that could easily be translated to xml or some other form of structured data (or could even be imported directly). If that is out of question (I can imagine it to be hard to negotiate since you are new in your job), I would design a form-like template in the email that you send to the submitters, so that the answers are as pre-structured as possible.
This is a snippet from an .xml I exported (I am administrator for the concert planning database at a concert hall, this is an export that is used for a printed programme of concerts, I simply filtered for some concerts):
<Kapitelname>Elbphilharmonie Sommer</Kapitelname>
<Leerzeile></Leerzeile>
<Beschreibung>Hier würde der Text zur Reihe oder zum Festival stehen. Dies ist händisch ins xml eingetippt. Text bitte automatisch ziehen aus Evis -> 1. Vertriebskanal -> Beschreibung (www)</Beschreibung>
<LeerzeileMitLinie></LeerzeileMitLinie>
<Konzertdaten>07.08.2019 | Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal</Konzertdaten>
<Reihe>Elbphilharmonie / Laeiszhalle Jazz</Reihe>
<Besetzung>Charles Lloyd / Julian Lage / Marvin Sewell / Reuben Rogers / Eric Harland</Besetzung>
<Werktitel>»Kindred Spirits«</Werktitel>
<Blackbox>     </Blackbox> <Vertriebskanal>Elbphilharmonie Sommer / Elbphilharmonie / Laeiszhalle Jazz</Vertriebskanal> / <Veranstalter>HamburgMusik</Veranstalter>
<Leerzeile></Leerzeile>
<Konzertdaten>08.08.2019 | Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal</Konzertdaten>
<Besetzung>Father John Misty / Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt</Besetzung>
<Blackbox>     </Blackbox> <Vertriebskanal>Elbphilharmonie Sommer</Vertriebskanal> / <Veranstalter>FKP Scorpio</Veranstalter>
<Leerzeile></Leerzeile>
<Konzertdaten>09.08.2019 | Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal</Konzertdaten>
<Reihe>Elbphilharmonie / Laeiszhalle Jazz</Reihe>
<Besetzung>Antonio Sánchez</Besetzung>
<Werktitel>Birdman (Regie: Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA 2014)</Werktitel>
<Werktitel>Originalmusik von Antonio Sánchez</Werktitel>
<Blackbox>     </Blackbox> <Vertriebskanal>Elbphilharmonie Sommer / Elbphilharmonie / Laeiszhalle Jazz</Vertriebskanal> / <Veranstalter>HamburgMusik</Veranstalter>
<Leerzeile></Leerzeile>
… and this is what it looks like:
So, everything that is in spiky brackets <Kapitelname> is a tag that defines a class of a text block. How those classes are formatted is defined in the layout programme - i.e. <Kapitelname>Elbphilharmonie Sommer</Kapitelname> is the chapter caption in very large font size.
<Leerzeile></Leerzeile> defines an empty row with certain margins, whereas <LeerzeileMitLinie></LeerzeileMitLinie> defines an empty row with a black bar - and so on. The artist’s names are formatted in a fat font weight, the last row has a black box as indentation.
If you want to change the font size of the chapter captions, all you have to do is change the font size in the definition in your layout programme - and every text block defined as chapter caption is automatically changed 
I do not have InDesign, but in word, those definitions live here:
So, I could imagine a recipe having a name, a description, a use case, maybe a certain group of persons/events ist aimed at (charity gala vs. sponsored run, etc.), maybe some tag words - all those I would define as different text blocks - for a start you can even use the definitions in word to get a feeling for it.
Also, to help your inbox: the filtering and labeling options in Outlook are quite good nowadays.
All the best for your start!