2025 CATEGORIES

Important information

All categories are FREE TO ENTER

Entrants will be asked to submit a 200-word summary, an 800-word entry that fulfils the stated objectives for each category and a 300-word UK-based case study.

Submissions will be accepted via the online entry system only.

All information submitted is used for judging and won't be shared outside the judging process.

Please read on for further information on each category and application criteria.

The deadline for entering is Friday 28 March 2025, 11:55pm GMT.

For any queries, please get in touch with Yasmin Ansari

Organisational Excellence

For projects that focus on making digital products, services or resources more accessible and inclusive for all users, including marginalised or underserved communities.

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Businesses need to attract, train and retain the brightest and the best digital talent by creating an environment where talent can grow and thrive. This award celebrates the organisations doing this with aplomb.
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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of a digital culture that embraces employee ideas.
  • Examples of innovative digital projects with major employee involvement.
  • Examples of training and supporting staff development on digital skills.
  • Evidence of retaining and developing digital staff. Removal of organisational silos (devops) to push a clear digital strategy.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

There is increasing demand from organisations for help with their digital operations, increasing the scope for digital service companies to showcase their talents and capabilities. This award recognises those companies specialising in providing digital services to organisations.

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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of support and involvement in new digital projects that have delivered tangible benefit to clients. Ideally more than one.
  • Evidence of going above and beyond to support these projects.
  • Customer testimonials.
  • URLs / app store links as required.

Important information:

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

This award will go to the company that has best modernised or simplified their systems to provably increase efficiency. Judges will be looking for a detailed description of the start and end points of the project, as well as how the company achieved its goals.

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Judging criteria:

  • Description of project: why it was undertaken, what the aims were.
  • Challenges faced and overcome in the process.
  • Provable benefits resulting from the transformation.
  • You must include a UK-based case study.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Personal Excellence

In a world of constant disruptive digital change the role of chief digital officer and the leadership it provides is critical to organisational success and survival. This award recognises outstanding leadership that is having a clear impact on performance and delivering the organisation's digital vision.

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Judging criteria:

  • Clear evidence of exceptional leadership, innovation and management of a cutting-edge digital project or projects that have had a measurable impact on operations.
  • Helping lead digital transformation in all areas of the business, with the engagement of other C-level executives and the board.
  • Size of organisation is immaterial.

*This award is open to whoever is leading digital transformation regardless of job title.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Although often conflated with the CDO, the Chief Technology Officer takes on a distinct role dealing with all aspects of information technology, including both soft- and hardware, rather than purely digital aspects. Although they have deep technical knowledge, they are often concerned with the long-term strategic issues facing their organisation. This award recognises leading individuals that are driving change, while ensuring that the day-to-day IT remains on-task.

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Judging criteria:

  • Clear evidence of exceptional leadership, innovation and management of a cutting-edge technical project or projects that have had a measurable impact on operations.
  • Evidence of engagement with the business to drive technology adoption.

*This award is open to whoever is responsible for technology strategy at an organisation, regardless of job title.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Great design is only as good as the code that lives underneath it - no matter how good your offering. This award recognises the teams bring digital ideas and innovations to life..

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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of the projects development teams have contributed to.
  • Evidence of start of the art development practices and processes at the bleeding edge of digital innovation.
  • The technical challenges the projects presented and how they were overcome. Seamless integration with back office systems and rapid project lifecycles.
  • Examples of going above and beyond to deliver this project.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories. 
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

With digital transformation in full swing across the industry, many companies have begun to make their own moves into the digital space. The winner of this award will be the individual, not necessarily in a technical role, who has worked to promote digital practices and ways of working, both inside and outside the organisation. Case studies and examples are particularly welcome.

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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of results implemented because of the entrant's work.
  • Evidence of how these practices have helped the organisation.
  • Demonstrable enthusiasm for and creativity in digital.

Important information:   

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Every modern company needs skilled digital employees who can not only solve problems and innovate, but explain the importance of technology to the wider business. This award celebrates those technical people who are doing great work in their daily role, and lionising tech outside the IT department.

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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of innovation and a can-do attitude with real business benefits.
  • Evidence of playing a substantial role in the development and delivery of new digital initiatives.
  • Evidence of initiating and/or leading technical projects in new areas of the business.
  • Entrants must be based or work substantially in the UK.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Digital teams are at the heart of modern, digital organisations. This award recognises the best of the best and the contributions they are making to their organisation's operations, from new features and functions on websites, to entire new capabilities and services

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Judging criteria:

  • Clear examples of the launch of new, innovative features, whether internally or end-user facing.
  • Ideally multiple examples overlapping in terms of time to showcase the excellence of the team and its operational abilities.
  • Clear examples of how this work delivered benefits, such as boosting sales or reducing time to market of key services and offerings.
  • URLs / app store links as required.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

This award recognises the immense impact of the engineers behind outstanding technological innovations, be it in cloud, DevOps, AI or any other space. By spearheading complex projects, skilfully resolving entrenched obstacles, demonstrating leadership and delivering creative solutions that push boundaries, the Engineer of the Year exemplifies versatile technical talent and ingenuity driving their company forward.
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Important information:

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

With a major shortage of trained digital experts many organisations succeed by hiring young people for aptitude and attitude, regardless of academic success, and training them on the job in the workplace - an approach that is both socially valuable and economically desirable. This award recognises young people who are making a name for themselves in the digital world.

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Judging criteria:

  • Evidence of innovation and can-do attitude with real business benefits.
  • Evidence of playing a substantial role in the development and delivery of new digital initiatives.
  • Evidence of genuine skills growth and personal development.
  • Evidence of concrete responsibilities and results.
  • Open to anyone between the age of 18 and 24.

Important information:   

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Project Excellence

Honouring projects that have used data in innovative ways to solve complex problems, improve decision-making, or provide actionable insights that drive business impact.

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For projects that focus on making digital products, services or resources more accessible and inclusive for all users, including marginalised or underserved communities.

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Companies are adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning at a rapidly-increasing rate, and automation is one of the most common areas for this. Our judges want to know what has been automated and why, the scale of the project and its successful outcomes.
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Judging criteria:

  • Explanation of project, its requirements and how they were delivered.
  • Clear explanation of project outcomes and how these matched the aims.
  • Examples of outstanding work above and beyond the call of duty to deliver the project.

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

For not-for-profits every penny counts. This awards celebrates those using digital technology for everything from fund-raising to driving operational efficiencies that mean they have more time, energy and budget to focus on the causes they serve.

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Judging criteria:

  • Focus of project and issues or opportunities it tackled Benefits to organisation based on clear metrics.   
  • Evidence of increased end user engagement.

Important information:

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Citizens expect a first-class digital experience when engaging with public sector organisations. This award celebrates the public sector organisations providing just that with slick, innovative offerings that are easy to use and get the job done.

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Judging criteria:

  • Nature of project and problem or opportunity it tackled.
  • Benefits to citizens and public uptake.
  • Benefits to the organisation, such as simplifying processing times or reducing errors.

Important information:   

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Large or small, firms using innovative digital tools and technologies can realise huge benefits. This award recognises those using digital to achieve real competitive advantage.

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Judging criteria:

  • Nature of project and problem/opportunity it addressed.
  • Benefits to customers and uptake (B2B or B2C).
  • Benefits to organisation.
  • You must include a UK-based case study.

Important information:   

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence systems are rapidly becoming part of many organisations’ everyday operations, from voice recognition and translation tools, to chat bots and medical image processing. This award recognises those on the frontline of this trend and that are deriving real benefits as a result.

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Judging criteria:

  • Nature of project and problem/opportunity it addressed.
  • Information on how project was implemented. Benefits to organisation.

Important information:

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.

With mobile by a distance the fastest growing way in which end users interact with digital services providing an outstanding mobile experience is a must for organisations of all types. This award celebrates those that have created a truly exceptional mobile experience.

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The issue of sustainability is becoming ever more important, with customers increasingly choosing suppliers based at least in part on their ESG credentials. With this - and the accelerating pace of climate change - in mind, no company can afford to ignore the environmental impact of new projects. Entrants in this category must demonstrate the project's success from both an environmental and business perspective, explain why and how climate concerns were considered, and describe how the outcomes/results met the original climate-focused brief.

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Judging criteria:

  • Explanation of project’s environmental and business goals.
  • Clear description of project outcomes – with quantifiable data, if appropriate.
  • Absolutely no greenwashing.     

Important information: 

  • Do not submit marketing copy, it will not be accepted as an entry.
  • Your entry must be specific to the category, do not enter the same submission across multiple categories.   
  • All entrants must have a presence in the UK.