BCI Awards Application Guide

The awards application process is designed to be inclusive, transparent, and easy to follow. The information provided below will assist you in understanding the criteria for the application, the judging process, and the rules.

Application rules

We want to emphasize that the awards process has specific rules in place, and it's important to follow them. Failure to comply with these rules may result in the disqualification of your application. We encourage all applicants to carefully review the rules to ensure they are eligible to apply and that their submission is complete and meets the necessary requirements.

All applications should be submitted in English. We understand that not everyone may be proficient in English, so we recommend seeking assistance from a colleague or friend who can assist with translation, or using online translation tools to help with the process.
Applicants must provide evidence in each chosen category criterion.
Evidence will only be accepted within the timeframe indicated on the awards entry page. This will cover the previous 12 months only. For 2026, all evidence supporting your award nomination should be dated between 1 January 2025 and 23 February 2026. You must include dates for each relevant section of the application form otherwise your application will not be accepted.
Evidence provided must not have been included in previous submissions. Repeat applications for the same award category, covering the same individual, team, product, service, or exercise programme, must be supported by new evidence relating to the permitted timescale.
Each criterion has a maximum word count limit that must be adhered to. Any words beyond this limit will not be considered.
To ensure that all testimonials are fair and of equal length, there is a maximum limit of 200 words per testimonial. Any words beyond this limit will not be taken into consideration. You will be asked to provide the name, job title and contact information for your referees so that the information can be verified if necessary. If we are unable to verify the information it will be disregarded by the Judges.
To ensure fairness in the judging process, the criteria used for evaluation will be based solely on the quality of the evidence submitted. Any additional documents beyond the requested evidence will not be taken into consideration.
Hyperlinks to evidence are not permitted unless specifically requested. Please include all evidence directly within the application.
Applications received after the advertised deadline will not be considered.
To maintain fairness and impartiality during the awards assessment period, applicants and organizations are not permitted to contact the awards judges.
For the awards application to be considered, the applicant declaration included on the entry form must be agreed and dated.
We do not accept nominations for current BCI Judges or BCI Board members. Applications from organizations where a Judge or Board member is employed will only be accepted if we can verify that the individual has not been involved in the application or in the work submitted as evidence.
To ensure fairness and impartiality, BCI staff, Board members, and Judges are not permitted to provide testimony for any award application.
Individual applicants must live, work, or have responsibility for the region they are entering. Organizational applicants must have a registered office in the region or be able to demonstrate, as part of their submission, customers or operational activity within the region they are entering.
Applicants may submit entries for multiple award categories, provided they meet the eligibility criteria for each category. Individuals inducted into the BCI Hall of Fame are not eligible to enter the category for which they received their induction for a period of three years following the date of induction.
Individuals and global/multi-region organizations may submit multiple award applications across different regions and categories, but only one application per category is permitted per year. This includes submissions from different teams, products, services, or incidents within the same organization. If two applications for the same category are received from the same organization but come from different areas of the business, only the application submitted first will be accepted.

The information you submit will be used by the BCI to judge your submission. It will be passed to our volunteer BCI member judges for this purpose.

Data retention

The BCI judges will only have access to your data during the application judging process and timeline. The BCI will retain any information and evidence you submit for up to 36 months so that any future applications you make can be verified against previous evidence. All information provided is stored on secure (password- and firewall-protected) servers and devices.

For more information about how your data will be processed, click here.

How to apply

Once entries open each year, there will be a link to the entry page on the BCI Awards page on our website.

Select the appropriate category for your submission.
This will open the application form for that category.
Complete the form by providing full contact information and submitting evidence against each criterion. You will also need to select the region you are entering.
Agree to and date the applicant declaration and submit the form.
Your submission will be received and vetted by the BCI Central Office to confirm it meets the criteria.
You will be notified within 8 weeks of the application deadline if your submission meets the criteria and has been accepted.
If accepted, your entry will be sent to our Judging Panel for evaluation.
The Judging panel will review and score all accepted applications.

For information about the judging process, please visit our website at BCI Awards Judging Guidance.

Successful applications

Once the judging process is complete, you will be notified if your entry has been shortlisted for the regional awards. The regional award winners will be announced at the virtual regional award ceremony which take place in August and September. Regional award winners are automatically shortlisted for the Global awards.

Regional award winners will be required to submit a short video acceptance speech in advance of the Global awards ceremony. They will also need to nominate a representative to collect the award on the evening if they are unable to attend in person.

The scoring criteria

To evaluate applicants' evidence-based submissions, the judges will use six performance descriptors as outlined below. Evidence should be timebound, address the criterion, and be clearly explained.

Exceptional: Score of 5

Outstanding evidence; measurable impact; strategic value; exemplary professionalism.

Strong: Score of 4

Well-developed example with clear impact and strong alignment to competencies.

Good: Score of 3

Clear, relevant example showing solid professional competence.

Adequate: Score of 2

Basic example with some relevance but lacking detail or depth.

Limited: Score of 1

Weak, vague, or generic example with minimal relevance.

Not Evident: Score of 0

No answer or does not address the question.

Moderation meetings

Moderation meetings provide an opportunity for judges and the Head Judge to convene virtually to discuss any ambiguous issues related to judging. The Head Judge leads the meetings, reviewing the evidence, scores, and judges' comments to ensure a transparent, fair, and equitable application process. The goal is to select the most deserving award recipients while maintaining consistency, impartiality, and inclusivity. If a consensus cannot be reached, the Head Judge will make the final decision.

Moderation meetings will take place at the discretion of the Head Judge if discrepancies or ambiguities in scoring are identified. These may include, for example, situations where there are significant differences in scores between judges or where top applicant scores are tied.

For more information on how to apply, please contact [email protected]