About competition
Applications for Project of the Year 2026 will open on September 7th.
This year, Project of the Year will be held for the fourth time as an international contest celebrating outstanding IT and digital transformation initiatives from around the world.
More than just a competition, Project of the Year is a global platform where CIOs, CDTOs, CTOs, and other IT leaders share successful projects, exchange expertise, and inspire one another through real business achievements.
The mission of Project of the Year is to promote best practices in information technology and digital transformation, fostering knowledge exchange and inspiring innovation across industries and countries.
Application form (for review only)
What sets the contest apart is its unique evaluation methodology developed by Global CIO experts. There is no jury. Winners are identified through a balanced process that combines online voting by IT professionals and a comprehensive assessment of project scope and impact.
Submitting an application to participate in the contest is free of charge. Projects can be submitted by IT leaders representing customer organizations or by IT vendors. Applications are published on the website after review by the organizing committee.
The organizing committee has the right to:
- make stylistic edits to project descriptions;
- adjust the number of final nominations after the submission period ends and move projects between cathegories to ensure fair competition;
- reject comments that do not add meaningful value or duplicate existing feedback. Such comments will be removed after voting, with the project rating adjusted accordingly;
- exclude unjustified low scores if the comments provided do not support an objective assessment. Such scores may be removed after review, with the final rating adjusted accordingly.
Contact the organizers: project@globalcio.com
Competition rules
The project for the competition may be nominated by
- CIO or other leaders of digital transformation within the company.
- IT service providers, provided the project is confirmed by the customer CIO or another responsible business leader.
Important
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participation is free
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A project submitted by an IT service provider must be approved by the customer. A confirmation request is sent by email, and without approval the application is not accepted.
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Software products and solutions that have not been implemented for a specific customer are not eligible for the competition.
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The organizing committee may remove irrelevant or duplicate comments, with ratings recalculated accordingly.
- Multiple projects can be submitted across different categories; however, each project may only be submitted to a single category.
- The competition editorial committee reserves the right to move projects between categories before voting ends to ensure they are presented in the most relevant context.
Example
Example: if a solution is implemented in company BBB, the IT manager at BBB must approve the submission. Without this confirmation, the application will not be accepted.
Project Selection Criteria
- A project or part of a project must have specific goals and objectives.
- The stated goals of the project must be achieved between October 1st, 2025 and November 1st, 2026 (the overall project duration is not limited to this period).
- A project must have tangible implementation results. Projects not implemented at the customer organization are not admitted to the competition.
- The competition editorial committee may move projects between categories to ensure fair and relevant presentation.
Please review sample submitted projects
Please note that, regardless of the applicant role, all submitted projects are formatted identically.
Competition deadlines
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Applications
07.09 — 31.10.2026
(inclusive)
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Verification
01.11 — 08.11.2026
(inclusive)
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Voting
09.11 — 11.01.2027
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Award ceremony
27.01.2027
Project Evaluation Criteria
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Scope of the project.
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Project importance for the company.
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Project complexity. Assessed by the IT community. Each voter awards 0-5 points.
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Optimization in solving project tasks. Assessed by the IT community. Each voter awards 0-5 points.
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Additional points:
- Comments on projects: each thematic comment (200+ characters) from an IT professional adds 0.2 points. Replies from the project author (200+ characters) also add 0.2 points.
- Contribution in IT Leaders Club as an active community member (above Standard Membership tier): +1 point.
- Membership in the Global CIO directory: +0.5 points for each listed IT vendor or IT solution entry used in the project.
Please note
- Only comments from IT decision-makers are considered; comments from IT service providers and journalists are excluded.
- Undervalued votes (one or two points) may be removed if comments are not sufficiently substantiated.
- Low-score review and cleanup is performed after the voting period.
Representatives of the IT community who actively participate in expert project discussions may receive recognition for expert contribution during the Project of the Year winners' announcement.
About the voting methodology. The voting framework was developed by the expert council of the Global CIO professional community. The structured methodology can be reviewed here.
Additional opportunities for IT service providers. Contest participants can strengthen project visibility by publishing a company card in the Global CIO directory and by presenting the IT solution used in the project.
What does this provide in the Project of the Year contest:- Detailed presentation of company competencies, achievements, and promoted IT solutions.
- A clickable logo in project descriptions and archive materials.
- Additional promotion of the company or IT solution.
- Directory placement for 1 year.
- Editorial promotion package according to current contest media plan.
Frequently asked questions
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No, it can’t.
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No, it won’t.
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All changes to the project must be sent to the moderator of the competition committee. They will be considered after additional verification.
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No, it can’t
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The final number of categories will be revealed after all projects are submitted to the competition. One category should include at least three projects, so if this number is smaller for any category, it will be removed. The projects from this category will be transferred to other categories. At the same time, if there are too many projects in the category, it may be broken into two separate categories.
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You are a IT Decision Maker if you are a CIO/IT responsible at the organization which is not an IT service provider. Your registration on the Global CIO Portal is confirmed through a valid corporate email.
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Project complexity – by giving -0-5 points.
Project optimization - by giving 0-5 points.
Comments on projects exceeding 200 characters and submitted by IT decision-makers receive an additional +0.2 points. Comments from IT vendors, IT journalists, and other non-eligible participants are not considered.
Customers’ authors responses to comments (200+ characters) also receive 0.2 points.