AWARDS

Nominate IT Teams for the 2026 CIO Awards Canada

IDC CIO Awards Canada recognizes outstanding IT innovation, celebrating Canadian organizations and their teams that leverage technology to drive business success. These prestigious technology awards honor those who create a competitive advantage, streamline operations, foster growth, and enhance customer relationships. Winning is a mark of enterprise excellence—an achievement the entire team can take pride in.

 

We are thrilled to be celebrating the 2026 CIO Awards winners at our in-person ceremony on November 19, 2026, at Delta Hotels Toronto, recognizing their contributions to Canada’s technology and innovation landscape.

To be recognized among Canada’s top technology awards, organizations must showcase excellence in two key areas:

  • IT Innovation – Demonstrating how your team leveraged CIO tech to drive new ways of doing business, whether internally or externally.

  • Business Value Delivery – Providing measurable impact, supported by data, that highlights how your project has improved business results.

Earning an IDC CIO Award means standing out in the Canadian tech landscape for groundbreaking achievements in IT.

View the 2025 press release here
Purchase Nomination Application

Eligibility Criteria

Earning an IDC CIO Award means standing out in the Canadian technology landscape for groundbreaking achievements in IT. To be eligible for consideration, submissions must meet the following criteria:

  • Projects must have commenced no earlier than June 1, 2024, be at least in a pilot stage, and have already delivered early results
  • Only one winning submission per organization will be selected

Award Highlights 2025

FAQs

  • When is the nomination deadline?

    All nominations must be submitted by May 29, 2026 at 11.59 PM ET.

  • Who can apply?

    Technology leaders, directors and executives, other qualified team members, as well as internal or external PR and marketing representatives, with a primary business presence in Canada may submit applications:

    Technology vendors can submit:

    • An internal IT project or initiative
    • A customer’s project or initiative that utilizes their product. This requires permission from the customer and contact information for the customer’s technology executive. Please note: If this entry wins, the customer will be named the award winner, not your technology vendor company.

    Technology vendors cannot submit:

    • Any product or service they sell to external IT customers or clients. These entries will be disqualified.
  • Is there a fee to apply?

    Yes, there is a $75 CAD fee to apply online via credit card.

  • How are judges selected?

    The judges are a selection of senior executives and editors from IDC Canada executives and analysts.

  • How are the entries judged?

    Judging is based solely on the information submitted in this online application. Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to review any additional materials. To be selected for an IDC CIO Canada Award, you must demonstrate excellence in two main areas:

    • Technology innovation: The extent to which your organization used IT in a new way or enabled new ways of doing business, whether internally or externally.
    • Business value delivery: The measurable impact, backed up by supporting data, that your project has had on your organization’s business results.
  • What are the requirements to accept the award?

    If your company is selected as an award winner, a member of the nominated company will need to formally acknowledge and accept the award within one week of receiving the notification. This acceptance must be made via the online award acceptance page. If you do not complete this step, you will forfeit your award and another winner from the pool of finalists will be selected.

  • Are application submissions confidential?

    Yes, all application submissions are confidential during the judging phase. Event operations staff and the judging panel will view them in confidence to determine the winners.

  • Will I receive feedback about my submission?

    No feedback will be given on submissions.

  • What format should attachments be?

    Supporting documents can be uploaded in PDF, JPG or PNG formats only.

  • Want to preview the nomination submission form?

    View the full questionnaire here Nomination Questionaire Preview